Outcomes in Minor Salivary Gland Tumors-A 20+ Year Tertiary-Care Center Experience.

Objective: Minor salivary gland carcinomas are challenging to study due to their rarity and heterogeneity. We aim to further characterize clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcomes over 20 years within a single institution.

Study Design: Retrospective chart review was conducted on 210 patients who received primary treatment for minor salivary gland malignancy from 2000 to 2022.

Setting: Single tertiary-care center.

Methods: Multivariable Cox proportional hazards method was used to examine the relationship between pre-determined clinically important variables and outcomes.

Results: Five-year overall survival was 77.8% (72.0-84.1). Advanced clinical T stage portended over a 2 times higher risk of death and recurrence. High pathologic grade was associated with a near 3 times higher risk of death and recurrence. There was a predominance of occult nodal metastases in level II for oral cavity and oropharynx site tumors.

Conclusion: Clinical T stage and grade were important for overall survival, local, regional, and distant recurrence-free survival. Occult nodal metastases occurred most often in level II.