The histopathologic criteria most useful for grading of mucoepidermoid carcinomas are controversial. To identify those histologic features most important in the grading of intraoral mucoepidermoid carcinomas, 143 cases of this disease with clinicopathologic correlations were studied. Twelve histopathologic features of each tumor and their clinical presentation were correlated with patient outcome. Seven patients died of disease, 5 had regional metastases only, 10 had recurrences only, and 121 had no additional problems. Clinical features suggesting aggressive behavior were short duration, presence of clinical symptoms, and location of tumor in the tongue and floor of the mouth. The histopathologic features that indicated high‐grade behavior were an intracystic component of less than 20%, four or more mitotic figures per ten high‐power fields, neural invasion, necrosis, and cellular anaplasia. The simultaneous assessment of these features showed improved prognostic correlation over individual parameters. A quantitative grading system was devised using these features. Tumors with a point score of 0 to 4 were considered low grade, and none of 122 patients with scores in this range died of their tumor, although 9 had recurrences only and 3 had regional metastases. Point scores of 7 or above indicated highly aggressive behavior. Six of ten patients with these high scores died of tumor. Most of these six patients had recurrences and regional metastases, and all had distant metastases. Two other patients had regional metastases only. Scores of 5 to 6 were considered intermediate between low‐grade and high‐grade scores because only 1 of 13 patients with these scores died of disease. Three of the five patients with regional metastasis had low‐grade tumors, indicating the inability of the grading system to identify them. Nonetheless, with an average follow‐up on these patients of 10 years after treatment of the metastasis, no patient had additional problems. The relative objectivity of our proposed grading system for intraoral mucoepidermoid carcinomas may help achieve more accurate and consistent grading of these rare tumors.

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The authors of this paper had previously conducted an investigation of minor salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma, in which they demonstrated that certain clinical and histopathologic features were useful in predicting biologic outcome. The current study investigated the usefulness of these features in determining the prognoses of patients with mucoepidermoid carcinomas of the major salivary glands. Clinical data and 15 histopathologic features were compared in 4 patient groups based on outcome after initial treatment. The outcome groups were: 1) survival without disease; 2) survival with tumor recurrence only; 3) survival with metastasis; and 4) death related to tumor. A numeric score was assigned to each unfavorable histopathologic feature. Low grade tumors had scores of 0–4. Intermediate grade tumors scored 5 or 6. High grade tumors had scores higher than 6. Most patients (75%) were tumor‐free after the initial treatment. Twenty‐one patients (9%) had local recurrence only, 12 (5%) demonstrated metastasis and survived, and 25 patients (11%) died of their disease. Clinical features associated with metastasis or death were more advanced with age, tumor size, and preoperative symptoms. Histopathologic features that correlated with poor outcome were cystic component less than 20%, 4 or more mitotic figures per 10 high‐power fields, neural involvement, necrosis, and anaplasia. All five of these histopathologic features demonstrated statistical prognostic significance when parotid gland tumors from Groups 1 and 4 were compared (P<0.001). The point‐based grading system demonstrated a statistically significant correlation with outcome for parotid tumors but not for submandibular tumors. The authors’ findings indicate that patients with tumors of equal histopathologic grade have a better prognosis when their tumors are in the parotid gland than when their tumors are in the submandibular gland. Six of eight submandibular tumors that metastasized or resulted in death were low‐grade lesions, and none were high‐grade. H. Tideman

Clinical features associated with metastasis or death were more advanced age, tumor size, and preoperative symptoms. Histopathologic features that correlated with poor outcome were cystic component less than 20%, 4 or more mitotic figures per 10 high-power fields, neural involvement, necrosis, and anaplasia. All five of these histopathologic features demonstrated statistical prognostic significance when parotid gland tumors from Groups 1 and 4 were compared (P < 0.001). The point-based grading system demonstrated a statistically significant correlation with outcome for parotid tumors but not for submandibular tumors. The authors' findings indicate that patients with tumors of equal histopathologic grade have a better prognosis when their tumors are in the parotid gland than when their tumors are in the submandibular gland. Six of eight submandibular tumors that metastasized or resulted in death were low grade lesions, and none were high grade.