Does the site of origin of mucoepidermoid carcinoma impact treatment outcomes? Long-term analysis of 244 patients over a decade.
AI interpretation is pending for this paper.
Open original publication →What the AI sees
Not AI summarized yet.
Research significance
Pending deeper interpretation.
Source abstract
PURPOSE: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common malignant histology encountered in salivary glands. Due to the rarity of salivary gland malignancies and more than 20 different histological types, there is a need to analyse clinicopathological risk factors of each histology separately, with emphasis on long-term outcomes. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study from a tertiary care centre conducted from 2014 to 2024 on all histologically confirmed MEC that underwent upfront surgery. RESULTS: 244 MEC [major salivary gland (MASG)-153, minor salivary gland (MISG)-91] were available for analysis. The median follow-up was 39 months. Location in MISG, higher T category and female sex were independent prognostic variables for survival on multivariate analysis (MVA) of the entire cohort. The impact of tumour location persisted following matched-pair analysis controlling for tumour stage, grade and margin status (OS: HR:5.3, 95% CI: 2.1 to 12.9; DFS: HR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.2 to 5.8). The predominant pattern of failure for tumour located in MISG was distant metastasis, whereas in MASG, loco-regional failure was commonly encountered. In terms of tumour grade, low-grade and high-grade had the best and worst outcomes for both MASG and MISG. However, survival curves for intermediate-grade tumours clustered with low-grade tumours in MASG and with high-grade tumours in MISG. CONCLUSION: Tumour location demonstrated a pronounced impact on MEC outcomes following treatment, independent of AJCC staging and histological grade.