Malignant Tumors of the Parotid Gland in Children

Abstract

Malignant parotid gland tumors are most common in adolescents, and this subgroup has worse outcomes. The role of radiotherapy remains controversial.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of major salivary gland malignancies in children

“…Similar to our results, this group showed that mucoepidermoid tumors are the most common and that surgery is the most widely employed treatment technique. This group also performed incidence calculations and showed that girls, black children, and adolescents are more frequently diagnosed with malignant parotid gland tumors and that adolescents have worse outcomes than children under the age of 15 years . Although our study did not find a similar result in regard to the effect on age on survival outcomes, in agreement with our findings this group noted that the use of adjuvant radiation was an independent predictor of poor outcomes for pediatric parotid gland malignancies.…”

“…Some studies have reported negative effects on bone mass and an increased risk of secondary malignancies with this therapy in children with primary salivary gland malignancies . Our study found a similar result to a prior study that noted the use of adjuvant radiation was an independent predictor of poor outcome for pediatric parotid gland malignancies, but cautioned that these survival differences between groups may have been due to selection bias of radiotherapy for more aggressive tumors …”

“…Although our study did not find a similar result in regard to the effect on age on survival outcomes, in agreement with our findings this group noted that the use of adjuvant radiation was an independent predictor of poor outcomes for pediatric parotid gland malignancies. Allan et al cautioned that the differences found between the radiation and nonradiation groups in survival statistics may be due to selection bias of radiotherapy for more aggressive tumors . The majority of the tumors irradiated in both our study as well as the previously mentioned Allan et al report were of mucoepidermoid histological subtype; however, in our study the mortalities following radiation were seen in children who had histological subtypes that have a varying prognosis depending on the grade .…”

“…The benefits of a combined surgical and adjuvant radiation therapy as treatment for salivary cancer neoplasms in the adult population have been well characterized, but the effects of this treatment approach have not been robustly assessed for the pediatric population. A recent study examining data through 2009 determined that surgical resection for malignant parotid gland tumors was associated with a more favorable prognosis, but the effects of adjuvant radiotherapy treatment were unclear …”

Rhabdomyosarcoma and Other Pediatric Temporal Bone Malignancies

“…Most affected children are older than 10 years. Overwhelmingly, the 2 most common tumor subtypes are mucoepidermoid carcinoma (49%) and acinic cell carcinoma (40%) 48 ; however, RMS of the parotid also exists (Fig. 5).…”