Effect of Surgery and Adjuvant Radiotherapy on Overall Survival for Non-Metastatic Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: A SEER Population Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: The effect of surgical resection (SR) and/or adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) on overall survival (OS) for patients with non-metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the head and neck has not been clearly established. Methods and materials: The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed on pretreatment clinical variables. Results: The records for 1,595 patients with non-metastatic ACC of the head and neck were obtained from the SEER database. Multivariate analysis revealed that younger age at diagnosis, surgery performed, gross resection type, no lymph node involvement, smaller tumor size, and major salivary gland and palate primary tumor sites to be prognostic for a statistically improved OS (p < 0.001). The addition of adjuvant RT was not associated with an improvement in OS for patients. Conclusions: This study reveals that age of diagnosis, absence of lymph node involvement, smaller tumor size, and extent of surgery were positive predictors for statistically significant improvements in OS in patients with ACC of the head and neck. Further clinical studies will be needed to further elucidate the impact of surgical resection type and adjuvant RT techniques on local regional control and risk of distant metastases.