Surgical Treatment of Carcinomas of the Oral Minor Salivary Glands—Oncological Outcome in Dependence of Tumor Entity and Therapeutic Strategies

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Carcinomas of the minor salivary glands of the oral cavity are a rare and heterogeneous group of malignant tumors. The small number of patients limits the available data on treatment and outcome. In this study, we compared clinical and pathological features and oncological outcomes in a cohort of patients suffering from different kinds of minor salivary gland cancer who received primary surgical therapy. Overall, we found different rates of cervical metastases and disease recurrence in dependence on the tumor entity. Therefore, we conclude that the surgical therapy of patients suffering from minor oral salivary gland cancer is feasible and brings good oncological results although the different tumor entities require different levels of therapeutic aggressiveness and adjuvant treatment. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical outcomes of three types of minor salivary gland carcinomas (adenoid-cystic carcinomas (ACC), adeno carcinomas not otherwise specified (AC-NOS), and mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC)) after primary surgical therapy. A retrospective cohort study was designed and patients with cancer of the minor oral salivary glands treated in our department in the years 2011 to 2022 were included. Clinicopathological data were evaluated to compare overall survival and progression-free survival between the entities. Eighty-one patients were included. The rates of cervical metastases were 38.9% for ACC, 25% for MEC, and 9.1% for AC-NOS. ACC exhibited significantly higher rates of local and systemic disease recurrence (p = 0.02), and the presence of neck node metastases was confirmed as an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival (p = 0.014). Treatment success in terms of oncological outcome varied significantly between the different entities and implies different treatment regimens for each tumor entity.