Salivary gland tumors and previous radiotherapy to the head or neck. Report of a clinical series.

To estimate what proportion of patients with newly diagnosed salivary gland tumors may have radiation-related disease, we interviewed all 275 patients in a surgical practice who had salivary gland resections during an 8 year period. Patients were asked about previous radiation treatment to the head and neck. Thirty-one patients (11 percent) had both an incident salivary gland tumor and a history of significant exposure. Four of these patients (13 percent) had multiple primary tumors of the salivary glands. The implications and generalizability of these findings have been discussed herein.