The Role of Elective Neck Dissection in Patients With Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the Head and Neck

Objective

To investigate the frequency and outcomes of elective neck dissection (END) for adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the head and neck.

Methods

The National Cancer Database was queried for a cohort study of patients with ACC of the major salivary glands, nasal cavity/nasopharynx, hard/soft palate, tongue, floor of mouth, larynx, and oral cavity who underwent primary surgical resection from 2004 to 2014. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify predictors of END and occult nodal metastasis. Overall survival (OS) was estimated using the Kaplan‐Meier method and modeled with Cox proportional hazards regression.

Results

Among 2,807 patients with ACC treated surgically, 636 (22.7%) underwent END. Patients with ACC of the salivary glands and tongue most frequently underwent END; patients with hard/soft palate (odds ratio [OR] 0.06, P < 0.001) and nasal cavity/nasopharynx (OR 0.05, P < 0.001) ACC rarely underwent END compared to patients with major salivary gland cancer. Increasing tumor (T) stage (T4 vs. T1, OR 3.02, P < 0.001) was associated with END. Patients with advanced T3 to T4 ACC of the major salivary glands demonstrated extended OS associated with END (5‐year OS 78.1% vs. 70.4%, P = 0.041) on Kaplan‐Meier analysis and with END with adjuvant radiation therapy (hazard ratio 0.55, P = 0.027) using Cox proportional hazards regression. Elective neck dissection for T4 ACC of the salivary glands (21.3%) and tongue (25.5%) most consistently revealed occult nodal metastasis.

Conclusion

Elective neck dissection for ACC of the major salivary glands or tongue is most likely to reveal occult nodal metastasis. Elective neck dissection is associated with extended OS for advanced‐stage ACC of the major salivary glands.

Level of Evidence

NA. Laryngoscope, 2019

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