Long-term outcomes and quality of life of 186 patients with primary parotid carcinoma treated with surgery and radiotherapy at the Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center.

PURPOSE: To assess the outcomes, toxicity, and quality of life (QOL) of patients with primary parotid carcinoma treated with surgery and postoperative radiotherapy at the Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between 1995 and 2010, 186 patients with parotid carcinoma were treated with parotidectomy with or without neck dissection, followed by radiotherapy. Elective nodal irradiation (ENI) was applied to high-risk, node-negative disease. End points were locoregional control (LRC), disease-free survival (DFS), cause-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS), late toxicity, and QOL.

RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 58 months (range, 4-172 months), the 5-year Kaplan-Meier estimates for LRC, DFS, CSS, and OS were 89%, 83%, 80%, and 68%, respectively. Forty-five events were reported: 24 distant metastases (DM) and 21 locoregional failures (LRF). Event-free survival rates by histological types were 89%, 78%, 76%, 74%, and 70% for acinic cell, mucoepidermoid, adenoid cystic, adenocarcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma, respectively. More LRF were reported in patients with squamous cell and high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma (21% and 19%, respectively) than in patients with other histological types (p = 0.04) and more DM in patients with adenoid cystic and adenocarcinoma (20% and 19%, respectively) than in patients with other types (p = 0.03). None of the high-risk node-negative patients who received ENI developed regional failure. On multivariate analysis, T stage, N stage, grade, and presence of perineural invasion and facial paralysis correlated significantly with DFS. The 5-year cumulative incidence of grade ≥2 late toxicity was 8%. QOL scores deteriorate during and shortly after treatment but returned in almost all scales to baseline scores within 6 months.

CONCLUSIONS: Of the entire group, surgery and postoperative radiotherapy resulted in excellent outcomes with minimal side effects and preservation of good QOL scores. However, in view of the pattern of failures observed in this study, the role of adjuvant systemic or targeted therapy in patients at high risk of DM should be investigated in prospective trials.