Nomogram Accurately Predicts Salivary Gland Cancer Recurrence
Oncologists now have a new prognostic tool to help determine the risk of recurrence in patients with carcinoma of the major salivary glands and may help guide their post-treatment surveillance, according to study results published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York conducted a retrospective case series of 301 patients with previously untreated malignant salivary gland tumors treated at their institution between 1985 and 2009. The median age of the patients studied was 62, they were mostly male (52%), and had undergone a median follow-up of 43 months. The 5-year overall mortality, disease-specific mortality, and recurrence rate were 30%, 28%, and 33%, respectively.
The researchers recorded the patients’ tumor and treatment characteristics from their medical charts to identify predictive factors and then identified five clinical variables to predict cancer recurrence: age, tumor grade, vascular and perineural invasion, and nodal metastasis. They then used the information to create the nomogram, which had a high concordance index of 0.85. Among the patients surveyed, 70 had recurrences.
Tool for Managing Patient Care and Follow-up Surveillance
The nomogram quantifies the risk of recurrence in cancers of the major salivary gland, concluded the researchers, enabling physicians to give more accurate prognostic information to patients. The nomogram may also help guide oncologists in the management of care for patients at risk of recurrence and in their follow-up surveillance.
According to Cancer.Net, an estimated 1 out of 100,000 adults will be diagnosed with salivary gland cancer this year.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
