Carcinoma of major salivary glands. Recent trends.

We have reviewed a 44-year experience with previously untreated carcinomas arising in major salivary glands to compare 319 patients treated before 1966 with 155 who received therapy between 1966 and 1982. Actuarial analysis indicates that five- and ten-year survival of our more recently treated patients was 80% and 65%, compared with 60% and 50% in patients treated before 1966. Explanation for this includes the higher proportion of patients with less aggressive histologic subtypes seen in recent years, as well as the fact that many of our patients treated before 1966 had surgical procedures considered inadequate by current standards. We also believe that adjunctive radiation oncology enhanced survival, but it could not be proved in this retrospective study. Multivariate analysis confirms that the clinical stage was the most important prognostic variable.