Treatment Options
- Surgery – The most common treatment for salivary gland tumors is to remove the tumor.
- Standard radiation or neutron therapy – a unique type of radiation therapy that has shown to be very effective against salivary gland tumors.
- Chemotherapy – Not often used for salivary gland tumors, chemotherapy may be helpful in some cases, such as if your cancer has spread to other areas of your body
Surgery
Most people with salivary gland cancer have surgery to remove their tumor and part of the surrounding tissue. This tissue might include some healthy tissue from the affected gland or some bone or other soft tissue nearby. Some people have lymph nodes removed from their neck, too—either because a biopsy showed the cancer had spread there or because the cancer is high grade and likely to spread to these nodes.
The facial nerve, a major nerve that control muscles in the face, passes through the parotid gland. If you need surgery to remove cancer from this gland, our surgeons will use techniques to operate on the gland without damaging the nerve, if at all possible. In some cases, there is no way to remove the cancer effectively without removing part of the facial nerve. This can cause side effects, such as paralysis on that side of the face. This may be the best option for some patients. Sometimes doctors can use nerve-grafting procedures to help repair the nerve. To preserve the facial nerve, our doctors sometimes combine more limited surgery with neutron therapy, a powerful form of radiation.
If your cancer is in some other gland beside the parotid, other nerves might be affected by surgery. When you are considering surgery, ask your doctor to explain all the risk and benefits, including how your nerves might be affected.
Salivary gland tumor patients at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance have surgery at University of Washington Medical Center, an SCCA parent organization.
Radiation and Neutron Therapy
Some people with salivary gland tumors receive radiation therapy as their main treatment or along with other treatments. If your tumor is too large to remove surgically or in a position that makes it hard to operate on, or if your health is poor and surgery may be risky, then your doctor may suggest radiation as your main treatment.
Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. People with salivary gland tumors receive external radiation therapy. A machine outside the body delivers a dose of radiation that travels through the outer structures, such as the skin, into deeper areas of the body. (For other types of cancer, radiation is sometimes given internally, through implanted radioactive “seeds” or other methods.)
Your doctor may choose standard radiation or a type called neutron therapy that is more powerful than standard radiation and is especially effective against salivary gland tumors. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is one of only three facilities in the United States that offers neutron therapy.
Salivary gland tumor patients at SCCA receive radiation and neutron therapy at University of Washington Medical Center, a SCCA parent organization.
Chemotherapy
If you have a salivary gland tumor, your doctor may recommend chemotherapy, or treatment with anti-cancer drugs. These medicines are distributed throughout the body through the bloodstream. They can help kill cancer cells that may have spread to other areas of the body, called metastases.
Doctors do not often use chemotherapy for salivary gland tumors because the drugs currently available do not cure the disease. But chemotherapy may help shrink the tumors in some cases, control tumors that surgery and radiation did not control, and treat metastases. New drugs are becoming available all the time, and future agents may be more effective in treating salivary gland cancers. Your doctor can talk with you about whether chemotherapy might be useful in your situation.
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance patients who have salivary gland tumors receive chemotherapy at the SCCA clinic near Lake Union.