The aim of the present study was to summarize the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics of salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) and to evaluate the currently available treatment modalities. Between 2001 and 2011, 11 patients with SDC were diagnosed and treated at the Affiliated Hospital of Stomatology of Nanjing University (Nanjing, Jiangsu, China). The present study retrospectively reviewed the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical data of these 11 patients and the results indicated that the parotid gland was the most commonly affected site, followed by the submandibular gland and the palate. Furthermore, the mean age of onset was 58.8 years and all cases were treated with surgery, with 72.7% receiving post-operative radiation therapy. The range for the follow-up period was 10-89 months and of the 11 patients investigated, only two succumbed to the disease. In addition, the two-year overall survival rate was 75% according to Kaplan-Meier analysis and the mean overall survival time was 72.8 months. In conclusion, the present study determined that the site of the malignancy is the best predictor of survival in patients with the rare salivary malignancy SDC, while age, gender, T stage, N stage, American Joint Committee on Cancer stage, nerve paralysis, post-operative radiation, neck dissection, and protein expression levels of Ki-67, androgen receptor and human epidermal growth factor-2/neu are less influential factors.
Keywords: head and neck; prognostic factors; salivary duct carcinoma; salivary gland; tumors.