Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of salivary gland origin: classification, clinical-pathological correlation, treatment results and long-term follow-up in 55 patients.

Over a period of 30 years, 55 patients with mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC) of the salivary glands underwent surgical treatment. Reclassified TNM-stage (Hermanek et al., 1992) at the time of initial diagnosis varied (T0: 0, T1: 26, T2: 20, T3: 2, T4: 7; N0: 49, N1: 4, N2: 2; M0: 53, M1: 2). In 46% (n = 24), the history of symptoms ranged from 6 months to 2 years without any specificity of features. The therapy of choice is a radical ablative surgery of the primary tumour. The resection of the related lymphatic system has to be included in the therapeutic concept in patients suspected of having metastases of the regional lymph nodes. The prognosis is excellent in patients with a localized manifestation of the disease only. Our patients who died for reasons of tumour metastasis had all been classified as stage III or IV at the time initial diagnosis (n = 5). Distant metastases are rarely found even decades after surgical therapy (n = 1). This is why a long-term follow-up is recommended for patients with MEC of the salivary glands.