A scientometric study on research trends and characteristics of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of salivary glands.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common malignant tumor of the salivary glands. The purpose of this study was to analyze the scientometric characteristics and research trends of salivary MEC.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

All the papers on salivary MEC were comprehensively retrieved from the Scopus database. The years of publication were divided into before 2014 and Jan 2014-Jun 2025 in the analysis of research trends.

RESULTS

There were 1308 papers on salivary MEC, with total citations of 24,598 and the h index of 70. The most frequent location of MEC involved was parotid gland, followed by minor saliva gland and submandibular gland. The keywords of differential diagnosis included adenosquamous carcinoma, pleomorphic adenoma, squamous cell carcinoma, Warthin tumor, and adenoid cystic carcinoma. Cancer surgery, radiotherapy, parotidectomy, neck dissection, chemotherapy, and cisplatin were the keywords of treatment. The research trend of has changed to cohort analysis, cancer prognosis, diagnostic imaging, positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT), perineural invasion, p63, gene mutation, gene rearrangement, and gene translocation after 2014. There have always been the common keywords such as pathology, tumor marker, immunohistochemistry, Ki-67, CRTC1, MAML2, gene fusion, and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

CONCLUSION

This study for the first time elucidated the current scenario and scientometric characteristics of MEC, and would help in improving in reciprocal collaboration and provide helpful guidance for further research.