OBJECTIVEThe pathologic slides and clinical data of 119 patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) of salivary glands were reviewed. All patients underwent surgical therapy in Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University. The postoperative overall observed survival rates and specific survival rates were statistically caculated, and the correlative clinicopathologic factors influencing the prognosis were evaluated.

METHODSStatistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 10.0 software. The survival rates were obtained by the Kaplan-Meier method. The clinicopathologic parameters were evaluated using log rank test (univariate analysis) and Cox proportional hazards regression model (multivariate analysis).

RESULTSThe overall observed survival rates of this group were 92.53%, 87.52% and 85.39% at 5, 10 and 15 years respectively after surgical therapy. Univariate analysis demonstrated that the factors correlated with lower in survival rates were patient's age (> or = 40 years), advanced clinical stage (TNM III, IV stage) and the poorly differentiated tumors (P < 0.05). The survival rates of male patients with MEC in the major salivary glands were significantly lower than those of female patients (P = 0.008). The degree of differentiation, TNM stage and preoperative symptoms were three important prognostic factors that were selected into the Cox proportional hazards regression model.

CONCLUSIONSMost patients with highly differentiated MEC in salivary glands had a favorable outcome after receiving adequate surgical treatment. The degree of differentiation and the TNM stage of MEC in the salivary glands are two useful factors to evaluate the prognosis of these neoplasms.