Chemotherapy for Salivary Gland Malignant Carcinoma : Meta-analysis and Systemic Review.

Abstract

 The primary form of treatment for salivary gland cancer is surgical resection. Radiation therapy is used as adjuvant therapy in cases of aggressive tumours, currently patients with recurrent or metastatic cancer who are not suitable for surgery or radiation are most often treated with chemotherapy. PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews were followed to evaluate salivary gland malignancies involving cytotoxic chemotherapy and biologic agents. An electronic literature search of Medline, PubMed, Scopus, etc. was performed and relevant articles were selected based on the inclusion criteria. Cytotoxic chemotherapies and biologic drugs such as anti HER - 2, anti-EGFR and anti-C-Kit are used to treat salivary gland cancer. Although most trials have respond poorly to standard chemotherapy with short durability and significant toxicity. Most of the research has focused on ACC and the use of combination therapy with cisplastin in conjunction with other treatments has been found to improve overall survival rate. Due to the limited patient population it was difficult to assess the efficacy of chemotherapy, which achieved very modest results. There are potential molecular targets such as HER2,NTRK and targeted treatments are becoming more popular. However to further explore potential treatment alternatives SGC patients should be enrolled in clinical trials.