Paediatric salivary gland cancer in Finland.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

Worldwide, only 5% of all salivary gland tumours are reported in children and 35-50% of these are malignant. According to the Finnish Cancer Registry, 15 children were diagnosed with salivary gland cancer (SGC) during 1990-2009 in Finland. There are no previous studies available on the histopathology, treatment, and survival of patients with these rare malignancies in Finland.

METHODS:

Retrospective patient and tumour data covering the past 20 years were retrieved from the five University Hospitals in Finland. Ten paediatric SGC patients with a median age of 14 years (range, 9-19 years) and with available adequate patient data were included. The series comprised four boys and six girls. Follow-up time varied from five months to 14 years.

RESULTS:

Two patients had a history of a previous malignancy. The majority of cases had a parotid gland cancer (7/10), and mucoepidermoid carcinoma was the most common histological subtype (5/10). All patients presented with Stage I-II disease and were treated surgically with curative intent. One patient with a Stage I mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland received postoperative radiotherapy. No recurrences were encountered and all patients were free of disease at the last follow up.

CONCLUSIONS:

The individual treatment design for paediatric SGC should follow consistent treatment strategies. All patients in the present study had low-grade tumours with a favourable prognosis. Since paediatric SGC is infrequent worldwide, the diagnostics, treatment, and follow up should be centralized in multidisciplinary Head and Neck Centres.

• Authors: Katri Aro, Ilmo Leivo, Reidar Grénman, Antti A Mäkitie
• Journal: International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology (Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol) Vol. 76 Issue 9 Pg. 1304-7 (Sep 2012) ISSN: 1872-8464 [Electronic] Ireland
• PMID: 22721526 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Adolescent
• Child
• Female
• Finland (epidemiology)
• Humans
• Incidence
• Male
• Parotid Neoplasms (epidemiology)
• Prognosis
• Retrospective Studies
• Salivary Gland Neoplasms (epidemiology, pathology, surgery)
• Survival Analysis
• Young Adult