Malignant Parotid Salivary Gland Tumour: Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma- Treated with Surgical Excision and Adjuvant Therapy

Abstract

Salivary gland tumours are quite rare. The most common symptom of salivary gland tumours is an expanding, painless swelling. Most are benign and are found in the parotid glands. The biggest obstacle in handling them is the difficulty in differentiating benign from malignant tumours. However, the majority of cases will require surgical excision as a means of arriving at a certain diagnosis. The most common type of malignant tumour of the major salivary glands is mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC). Investigations like fine needle aspiration cytology and Magnetic Resonance imaging scans offer some important information in this regard. Surgery alone can effectively cure early-stage low-grade malignancies, but postoperative radiation is necessary for more advanced, high-grade tumours that have metastasized to nearby lymph nodes. We presented a case of mucoepidermoid parotid carcinoma (intermediate grade) in a twenty-two-year-old male patient who was treated with surgical excision and post-operative adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy.