Clinical significance of intraparotid lymph node metastasis in primary parotid cancer

Abstract

Background: The clinical utility of intraparotid lymph node metastasis in primary parotid cancer is unknown, and this study was undertaken to address this gap in knowledge.

Methods: A medical chart review was performed on 86 patients who underwent parotidectomy with neck dissection (39 cN+ and 47 cN0). The disease-specific mortality and locoregional recurrence (LRR) were correlated with intraparotid lymph node metastasis status.

Results: Using intraparotid lymph node metastasis status to predict cervical nodal metastasis resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 70% and 90.6%, respectively (positive predictive value [PPV] of 87.3%). Patients with positive intraparotid lymph node metastasis had a worse 3-year disease-specific mortality compared with patients with negative intraparotid lymph node metastasis (p = .0037). Patients with cN0 neck but positive intraparotid lymph node metastasis were more likely to develop locoregional recurrence than patients without intraparotid lymph node metastasis (p = .08).

Conclusion: In patients with cN0 neck but positive intraparotid lymph node metastasis, intraparotid lymph node metastasis presence was strongly associated with a worse disease-specific survival and placed them at a higher risk of locoregional recurrence.

Keywords: clinical significance; intraparotid lymph node metastasis; nodal metastasis; primary parotid cancer.