Abstract
Salivary gland tumors comprise a group of 24 tumor subtypes with a wide range of clinical
behaviors and propensities for metastasis. Several prognostic factors have been identified
that help predict the development of systemic metastases, most commonly to the lung,
liver, or bone. Metastases to the brain are rare. To better understand the behavior
of salivary gland tumors that metastasise to the brain, we performed a retrospective
cohort analysis on a series of patients to highlight features of their medical and
surgical management. From 2007 to 2011, a database of 4117 elective craniotomies were
queried at a single institution to identify patients surgically treated for salivary
gland metastases to the brain. Three patients were identified. Histologic subtypes
included salivary duct carcinoma, poorly differentiated carcinoma, and papillary mucinous
adenocarcinoma. They had all undergone previous treatment for their primary malignancy.
The mean time to intracranial metastasis was 48 months from initial diagnosis (range, 14–91 months). Treatment for intracranial metastases included surgical resection, whole
brain radiation, stereotactic radiosurgery, and chemotherapy. Intracranial metastases
from salivary gland tumors are rare, present years after diagnosis of the primary
tumor, and are treatable with multimodality therapy.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
November 18,
2012
Received:
November 7,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
