What age can you get salivary gland cancer?
Salivary gland cancer is rare type of head and neck cancer. It can affect people of any age, but is more common in people aged over 50.
How common is cancer of the salivary gland?
Salivary gland cancers are not very common, making up less than 1% of cancers in the United States. They occur at a rate of about 1 case per 100,000 people per year in the United States. These cancers can occur in people of almost any age, but they become more common as people get older.
How do you know if you have cancer of the salivary gland?
Possible signs and symptoms of salivary gland cancer include:
- A lump or swelling in your mouth, cheek, jaw, or neck.
- Pain in your mouth, cheek, jaw, ear, or neck that does not go away.
- A difference between the size and/or shape of the left and right sides of your face or neck.
- Numbness in part of your face.
How fast does salivary gland cancer grow?
Doctors also give salivary gland tumors a grade of 1 to 3 that measures how fast the cancer cells seem to be growing: Grade 1 (low-grade) cancers have the best chance of being cured. They grow slowly and don’t look much different than normal cells. Grade 2 cancers grow moderately fast.
Is salivary cancer curable?
Many salivary gland cancers can often be cured, especially if found early. Although curing the cancer is the primary goal of treatment, preserving the function of the nearby nerves, organs, and tissues is also very important.
Is salivary gland cancer aggressive?
Salivary duct carcinoma is an aggressive and rare disease with poor prognosis.
How do they test for salivary gland cancer?
Your doctor will feel your jaw, neck and throat for lumps or swelling. Imaging tests. Imaging tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound or X-ray, may help your doctor determine the size and location of your salivary gland tumor.
Can salivary gland cancer spread to the brain?
Intracranial metastases from salivary gland tumors are rare, present years after diagnosis of the primary tumor, and are treatable with multimodality therapy.
Can ultrasound detect salivary cancer?
ULTRASOUND SCAN
This uses sound waves and helps the doctor to see salivary gland cancer. An ultrasound scan can show if a cancer is benign or malignant. Ultrasound scans are also often used to guide a needle biopsy and to look at lymph nodes.
Does a CT scan show salivary gland cancer?
A CT scan can show the size, shape, and position of a tumor and can help find enlarged lymph nodes that might contain cancer. If needed, CT scans can also be used to look for tumors in other parts of the body. Before the scan, you may be asked to drink 1 to 2 pints of a liquid called oral contrast.
Can a salivary gland burst?
Fever can occur. Generalized viral infections cause fever, headache, muscle aches and joint pain in the entire body. If the virus settles in the parotid glands, both sides of the face enlarge in front of the ears. A mucocele, a common cyst on the inside of the lower lip, can burst and drain yellow mucous.