MULTIVARIATE SURVIVAL ANALYSIS OF 128 CASES OF ORAL CAVITY MINOR SALIVARY-GLAND CARCINOMAS

Background. Minor salivary gland carcinomas are uncommon tumors of the oral cavity. The decision regarding treatment remains controversial. The main objective of this paper is to report on the survival results of 128 patients treated in a single institution. Methods. Tumor sites were: hard palate (62 cases), tongue (16 cases), buccal mucosa (13 cas es), soft palate (12 cases), and other sites (25 cases). The most comm on histology was mucoepidermoid carcinoma (76 cases). Clinically metas tatic lymph nodes were palpable in 21 patients. Cox regression techniq ue was used to construct the mathematical-statistical models, aiming t o predict the risks of recurrence and of death as functions of the dif ferent variables under study. Results. The 5-year overall survival rat es were, respectively, 85.9% and 87.7% in the groups of patients treat ed by surgery or combined therapy. There were significant differences in survival rates according to N stage, bone involvement, tumor histol ogy, sex, and type of surgery. Conclusions. Most of the recurrences we re at the site of primary tumor; neck metastases were rare at presenta tion and after initial treatment. Prognosis involves several factors r elated to stage, histology, and treatment. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.