[Clinical analysis of parotid cancer]

A clinical study was performed on 42 patients with parotid cancers initially treated in our hospital from 1972 to 1997. The five-year cumulative survival rate was 69% in the whole group and 72% in the radical surgical treatment group (n = 40). The five-year survival rates according to stage were as follows: stage I, 95% (21); stage II, 75% (4); stage III, 0% (1); and stage IV, 37% (16). The factors influencing prognosis were cases of T3 and T4 (p < 0.05), stage III and IV (p < 0.01), and cervical lymph node metastasis (p < 0.01). Regarding treatment modalities, a partial parotidectomy appeared to be a curable surgical procedure for T1 cases. However, a lobectomy is recommended for T2 cases. Furthermore our study proposed that prophylactic supraomohyoid neck dissection should be necessary for mucoepidermoid carcinoma (high-grade malignancy) and undifferentiated carcinoma of T4N0 cases.