Salivary duct adenocarcinoma: a high grade malignancy.

Salivary duct carcinomas of the major salivary glands have two major distinguishing features. They closely resemble ductal carcinomas of the breast and they are high-grade malignancies. In general, but particularly for carcinomas measuring three or more centimeters in size, the clinical course is one characterized by a resistance to local control, metastases to regional lymph nodes and distant sites, and death within a few years after primary surgical treatment.