Clinicopathological and survival profile of patients with salivary gland myoepithelial carcinoma: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological and prognosis data of patients with myoepithelial carcinoma (MC) of the salivary glands.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and Embase search was performed with the keywords "myoepithelial carcinoma", "malignant myoepithelioma", and "salivary glands". Only primary salivary glands MC that fulfilled the World Health Organization diagnostic criteria were included. The Joanna Briggs Institute tool was used to assess the risk of bias.

RESULTS: Forty-three studies (comprising data from 71 cases) met the inclusion criteria. The patients having MC showed a mean age of 56.4 ± 19.6 years with no sex predilection. The parotid was the most affected gland (49.3%) (49.3%). Clinically, the MC presented as an asymptomatic (65.1%) mass (84%). The most common histological findings were the presence of clear tumor cells (39.7%) and multinodular growth patterns (60.7%). Multivariate analysis showed plasmacytoid cell type (p=0.010) and solid growth pattern (p=0.003) were related to decreased disease-free survival (DFS). Surgery alone was the most used treatment (53.5%). Patients with a combination of treatments (surgery, radiation therapy with/without chemotherapy) showed a longer DFS (p=0.049). The 2-year and 5-year overall survival rates were 67.5% and 46.1% respectively.

CONCLUSION: Salivary gland MC is a rare salivary cancer with no sex predilection, with a higher incidence in the parotid gland. Cell type, growth pattern, and treatment type may be related to a lower DFS. Overall, salivary gland MC presented low recurrence and metastasis rates.