Current thinking on malignant salivary gland neoplasms

Malignant salivary gland neoplasms are rare, representing approximately 3% to 7% of all head and neck cancers. Contrasting from the more common mucosal head and neck cancers, which, in general, are ascribed to excessive tobacco, alcohol use, and more recently to viral infection, specific carcinogenic factors for malignant salivary gland growths have not been as clearly identified. Histologically, they represent a heterogeneous group of tumors. Forty histologic types of epithelial tumors of the salivary glands have been reported; some are exceedingly rare and may be the topic of only a few case reports. Salivary tumors can arise in the major salivary glands or in one of the minor salivary glands (predominantly mucus secreting glands), which are distributed throughout the upper aerodigestive. Most patients who develop malignant salivary gland tumors are in the sixth or seventh decade of life. FNA should be considered as part of the diagnostic evaluation but due to its varying sensitivities and specificities imaging modalities such as ultrasound, CT scans, and MRI should also be used as diagnostic adjuncts. Surgery is the primary modality for management of these tumors, nontraditional surgical approaches and instrumentation, as well as facial nerve monitoring, can be selectively utilized to try and decrease the morbidity associated with these surgical procedures. Adjuvant treatment is primarily achieved with radiation therapy. Chemotherapy continues to have a palliative role in the management of salivary gland tumors; however, research in this field is trying to identify a therapeutic role for chemotherapy in order to improve overall survival.