To determine clinical and histopathologic features of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland, specifically, the relation of tumor stage and grade and treatment type with clinical outcome. Design:Retrospective clinical and histopathologic review.Setting: Tertiary care medical center.Patients: From 1940 to 1994, 128 patients were treated at our institution for parotid mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Eighty-nine of these patients had their first treatment at our institution; these cases were chosen for retrospective clinical and histopathologic review.Intervention: A head and neck pathologist independently reviewed the pathology specimens.Main Outcome Measures: Age, symptoms, stage, treatment type, tumor grade, pathological features, disease progression, and survival.Results: Results of clinical staging were: T1 in 56 patients, T2 in 13, T3 in 1, T4 in 15, N0 in 85, N1 in 2, and N2 in 2. No patient had N3 or M1 disease. All patients underwent parotidectomy with or without neck dissection. Seven patients received postoperative radiotherapy. Tumor grade was low in 43 patients (48%), intermediate in 40 (45%), and high in 6 (7%). Only 5 patients had disease progression (local recurrence in 4, regional recurrence in 4, and distant recurrence in 2). At latest follow-up (mean follow-up, 14.7 years), 64 patients were alive without disease, 1 was alive with disease, 2 had died of mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and 22 had died of other causes. The Kaplan-Meier estimated cancer-specific survival rates at 5, 15, and 25 years were 98.8%, 97.4%, and 97.4%, respectively.Conclusions: In our study, tumor grade and stage appeared to be less important than previously described. With adequate parotidectomy and appropriate neck dissection, patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland appear to do well, with few recurrences.

1. Encoding of temporal stimulus parameters by inferior collicular (IC) neurons of Eptesicus fuscus was studied by recording their responses to a wide range of repetition rates (RRs) and durations at several stimulus intensities under free field stimulus conditions. 2. The response properties of 424 IC neurons recorded were similar to those reported in previous studies of this species. 3. IC neurons were classified as low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass according to their preference for RRs and/or durations characteristic of, respectively, search, approach, or terminal phases of echolocation. These neurons selectively process stimuli characteristic of the various phases of hunting. 4. Best RRs and best durations were not correlated with either the BFs or recording depths This suggests that each isofrequency lamina is capable of processing RRs and durations of all hunting phases. 5. Responses of one half of IC neurons studied were correlated with the stimulus duty cycle. These neurons may preferentially process terminal phase information when the bat's pulse emission duty cycle increases. 6. While the stimulus RR affected the dynamic range and overall profile of the intensity rate function, only little effect was observed with different stimulus durations.

IORT at a dose of 12.5 Gy is safe and produces tumor control and survival for patients likely to have microscopic residual disease in sites difficult to resect such as the skull base.

Studies of the immunohistochemical profiles and clinical course of desmoplastic melanoma have produced conflicting results. We identified 28 cases of desmoplastic melanoma after a search of our files for spindle cell neoplasms of the head and neck from 1960 through 1995. The 17 male (61%) and 11 female (39%) patients averaged 65 years of age. The cheek was the most common location (12 cases, 43%). The average length of follow-up was 5 years. Overall 5-year survival rate was 46%. Melan A and tyrosinase positivity (P = 0.0195), smooth muscle actin positivity (P = 0.0328), tumor size (P = 0.0297), and tumor thickness (P = 0.0419) were significantly associated with local progression-free survival. No histologic or immunohistochemical marker was associated with overall or metastasis-free survival.