Purpose of review: This article presents a summary of the recent publications on the diagnosis and management of primary malignant parotid epithelial neoplasm, with special emphasis on evaluation and treatment of nodal metastases.
Recent findings: Pathologists are challenged with making a diagnosis, classification and grading of salivary gland cancers. The unpredictable behaviour of this disease has been documented by clinicians reporting aggressiveness and variations in disease patterns within a single-cancer subgroup. Surgeons have identified a high incidence of occult nodal disease both at the primary site and the neck, which has frequently been understaged both clinically and on imaging in the presurgical workup.
Summary: The significance of a high incidence of occult nodal disease both at the primary site and the neck is that a more aggressive therapeutic strategy must be directed/advised by the multidisciplinary clinical team, to the disease located in the head and neck, thus improving likely cure, preventing local and distant disease failure.