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Treatment Options for Low-Grade Stage III Major Salivary Gland Tumors
Source: Salivary Gland Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version, National Cancer Institute.
Source updated: May 13, 2025 · Captured 2026-09-09.
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Context: Treatment of Stage III Major Salivary Gland Cancer
Treatment options for low-grade stage III major salivary gland tumors include:
Surgery alone or with postoperative radiation therapy, if indicated, is appropriate.
Chemotherapy should be considered in special circumstances, such as when radiation or surgery is refused or when tumors are recurrent or nonresponsive.
Fast neutron-beam radiation therapy (under clinical evaluation). Data on fast neutron-beam radiation therapy have indicated superior results when compared with conventional radiation therapy using x-rays.[1,2]
Patients with low-grade stage III tumors of the salivary gland may be cured with surgery alone.[5-7] Radiation therapy as primary treatment is not often required but may be used for tumors for which resection involves a significant cosmetic or functional deficit, or as an adjuvant to surgery when positive margins are present.[8] Patients with low-grade tumors that have spread to lymph nodes may be cured with resection of the primary tumor and the involved lymph nodes, with or without radiation therapy. Neutron-beam therapy is effective in the treatment of patients with tumors that have spread to local lymph nodes.
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