The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical outcomes of three types of minor salivary
gland carcinomas (adenoid-cystic carcinomas (ACC), adeno carcinomas not otherwise specified
(AC-NOS), and mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC)) after primary surgical therapy. A retrospective
cohort study was designed and patients with cancer of the minor oral salivary glands treated in our
department in the years 2011 to 2022 were included. Clinicopathological data were evaluated to
compare overall survival and progression-free survival between the entities. Eighty-one patients were
included. The rates of cervical metastases were 38.9% for ACC, 25% for MEC, and 9.1% for AC-NOS.
ACC exhibited significantly higher rates of local and systemic disease recurrence (p = 0.02), and the
presence of neck node metastases was confirmed as an independent prognostic factor for progressionfree survival (p = 0.014). Treatment success in terms of oncological outcome varied significantly
between the different entities and implies different treatment regimens for each tumor entity