Prognostic variables in malignant epithelial tumors of the parotid

A retrospective analysis was performed on 209 patients with carcinoma of the parotid who were treated with curative intent using surgery and post-operative irradiation. The five and ten-year actuarial survival were 71% and 65%. Failure at the primary site occurred in 24%, at nodal sites in 14%, and distantly in 23%. Multivariate analysis of prognostic variables identified age greater than 60 years, involved nodes, post-surgical residual disease, and poor differentiation to be bad prognostic variables.