Treatments

At Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, each cancer has a wide range of treatments that can be used alone or in combination to give the best outcome for your specific cancer, including standard therapies and novel therapies only available in clinical trials. That’s why careful diagnosis is so important.

  • Surgery

    Surgery is often the first treatment for salivary gland cancer if all the cancerous tissue can be removed.

    Nearby areas of soft tissue may be removed as well. If the cancer is likely to grow and spread quickly or if it has already spread to lymph nodes, the surgeon will usually remove lymph nodes from the same side of the neck.

    Most salivary gland tumors grow in the parotid gland. The facial nerve that controls movement on the same side of the face passes through this gland. It is very important for such a surgery to be done at a skilled center like Sylvester.

    Submandibular or sublingual gland cancers require your Sylvester surgeon to make a small cut in the skin. He or she removes the entire salivary gland and often some of the surrounding tissue or bone. Nerves passing through or near these glands are sensitive. These nerves control the movement of your tongue and lower face, as well as sensation and taste. This makes it very important for such a surgery to be done at a skilled center like Sylvester.

    Reconstructive Surgery: Sometimes, head and neck surgeries can cause substantial cosmetic changes while removing any cancer. Your Sylvester head and neck experts will plan before any treatment starts for both the cancer removal and any bone or tissue reconstruction.

    • Often these reconstructive procedures can utilize small pieces of tissue, skin or bone from your own body for a more natural look and feel — such as from your lower leg, shoulder blade, chest, forearm, and other areas.

    • Another option is to develop an artificial replacement called a prosthesis. Sylvester's head and neck cancer team works with our prosthodontist. A prosthodontist is a dentist who specializes in making replacements for teeth and other facial structures.

    • Custom prosthetic facial parts also can be created for you when needed. These prosthetics are designed to blend into your face, head, and neck.

  • Radiation Therapy

    Radiation therapy may be used as the main treatment (alone or with chemotherapy) for some salivary gland cancers that can't be removed by surgery. It may be used after surgery, or with chemotherapy, when cancer is aggressive, or in people with advanced salivary gland cancer. Chemotherapy can help with symptoms such as pain, bleeding, or trouble swallowing.

    • Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT): You benefit from Sylvester's experience as a world leader in treating head and neck cancers with IMRT, an advanced form of external beam radiation therapy. This therapy allows radiation specialists to shape radiation doses to the exact three-dimensional size of your tumor. The precise control and flexibility of IMRT helps us reduce radiation going to surrounding healthy tissue.

    Chemotherapy

    Chemotherapy is not often used to treat salivary gland cancers. Some doctors may use it along with radiation therapy to try to make the radiation more effective. More often, it is used in patients whose cancer has spread (metastasized) to distant organs and in patients whose cancers could not be controlled by surgery and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy sometimes shrinks tumors in these patients, but it’s not likely to cure this type of cancer. Chemotherapy drugs we use for head and neck patients do not typically cause you to lose your hair. 

    • Intravenous (infusion) chemotherapy is available at the Comprehensive Treatment Unit (CTU) of Sylvester's Miami location, a 12,000-square-foot unit that includes 33 recliners and 11 private rooms. If you prefer, you may have your infusion treatments at the Deerfield Beach, Plantation, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Coral Gables, and Kendall locations.