Ewing's sarcoma of the head and neck: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of head and neck Ewing sarcoma (ES) concerning patients' demographic and clinical features, histopathological findings, treatment, follow-up, and survival rate.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An electronic search was undertaken in four databases. Articles describing case reports or case series were included. Outcomes were evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method along with Cox regression.

RESULTS

The search yielded 186 studies describing 227 ES cases. The mean age was 22.7 years, and males were slightly more affected. Interestingly, more than half the cases were diagnosed up to 20 years. The respiratory tract was the most reported site, followed by the jawbones. Clinically, symptomatic swelling or nodules were described, with a mean duration of 4 months. Management involved multimodal treatment regimens. Local recurrence, lymph node and distant metastasis were observed in 10.7%, 12.6%, and 20.3% of cases, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed that older patients with distant metastasis had a lower overall survival rate (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

This study provides an overall view of head and neck ES that can assist oral and maxillofacial pathologists with the diagnosis and extend the knowledge of surgeons and oncologists about this condition.

Acinic cell carcinoma of the oral and maxillofacial region: an international multicenter study

The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence, clinicopathological, and prognostic features of acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC) of the oral and maxillofacial region. AciCC cases were retrospectively retrieved from 11 pathology centers of three different countries. Medical records were examined to extract demographic, clinical, pathologic, and follow-up information. A total of 75 cases were included. Females (65.33%) with a mean age of 45.51 years were mostly affected. The lesions usually presented as an asymptomatic (64.28%) nodule (95.66%) in the parotid gland (70.68%). The association of two histopathological patterns was the most common finding (48.93%) and the tumors presented mainly conventional histopathological grades (86.11%). Surgical treatment was performed in the majority of the cases (59.19%). Local recurrence was observed in 20% of the informed cases, regional metastasis in 30.43%, and distant metastasis in 12.50%. The statistical analysis showed that the cases with a solid histopathological pattern (p=0.01), high-grade transformation (p=0.008), recurrence (p=0.007), and regional metastasis (p=0.03) were associated with poor survival. In conclusion, high histopathological transformation, presence of nodal metastasis, and recurrence were prognostic factors for AciCC of the oral and maxillofacial region.

Epithelial salivary gland tumors in pediatric patients: An international collaborative study

OBJECTIVE

Salivary gland tumors (SGT) are a diverse group of uncommon neoplasms that are rare in pediatric patients. This study aimed to characterize the clinicopathological profile of pediatric patients affected by SGT from a large case series derived from an international group of academic centers.

STUDY DESIGN

A retrospective analysis of pediatric patients with SGT (0-19 years old) diagnosed between 2000 and 2021 from Brazil, South Africa, and the United Kingdom was performed. SPSS Statistics for Windows was used for a quantitative analysis of the data, with a descriptive analysis of the clinicopathological characteristics and the association between clinical variables and diagnoses.

RESULTS

A total of 203 cases of epithelial SGT were included. Females were slightly more commonly (56.5%), with a mean age of 14.1 years. The palate was the most common site (43.5%), followed by the parotid gland (29%), lip (10%), and submandibular gland (7.5%). The predominant clinical presentation was a flesh-colored, smooth, and painless nodule. Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) was the most frequently diagnosed SGT (58.6%), followed by mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) (26.6%). Surgery (90.8%) was the favored treatment option.

CONCLUSIONS

Benign SGT in pediatric patients are more commonly benign than malignant tumors. Clinicians should keep PA and MEC in mind when assessing nodular lesions of possible salivary gland origin in pediatric patients.

Correlation between clinical and pathological data and surgical margins in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity

The importance of having tumor-free margins when resecting oral neoplasms has been known for decades.

OBJECTIVE

To correlate clinical and pathology data to surgical margin status in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and floor of the mouth.

METHOD

This historical cohort cross-sectional study included all patients submitted to squamous cell carcinoma resection for tumors of the oral tongue and floor of the mouth between 2007 and 2011 at the Head and Neck Surgery service of our institution.

RESULTS

In the 117 cases included, 68.3% had tongue tumors. The male-to-female ratio was 2.3:1 and patient mean age was 57.6 years. Broad free resection margins were seen in 23.0% of the cases; narrow margins in 60.6% of the cases; and compromised margins in 16.2%. Tumor diameter and thickness were correlated to resection margins. Tumors in more advanced T-stages presented more unsatisfactory margins. Patients operated with broad free margins had their tumors resected more commonly through transoral approaches.

CONCLUSIONS

Tumors of larger volume both in terms of diameter and thickness were more correlated to unsatisfactory resection margins. Higher complexity procedures were not associated with better resection margins.