BACKGROUND: Non-nasopharyngeal head and neck lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a rate entity. The purpose of this study was to analyze its demographic, clinicopathologic, and survival characteristics. METHODS: A cohort from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database of cases with non-nasopharyngeal head and neck LELC between 1973 and 2011. RESULTS: There were 378 cases with 5-year overall survival (OS) of 70.5% and disease-specific survival (DSS) of 77.7%. The majority of cases were <60-year-old white men. Salivary gland LELC had the highest OS (80.8%) and DSS (85.7%) at 5 years. Multivariate analysis showed that older age, no surgery, and no radiation were independently significantly associated with worse survival (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Non-nasopharyngeal head and neck LELC is uncommon in the United States with salivary gland LELC having the highest OS and DSS compared with other head and neck sites. The optimal treatment with surgery and/or radiotherapy needs to be further investigated.
BACKGROUND: Non-nasopharyngeal head and neck lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a rate entity. The purpose of this study was to analyze its demographic, clinicopathologic, and survival characteristics. METHODS: A cohort from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database of cases with non-nasopharyngeal head and neck LELC between 1973 and 2011. RESULTS: There were 378 cases with 5-year overall survival (OS) of 70.5% and disease-specific survival (DSS) of 77.7%. The majority of cases were <60-year-old white men. Salivary gland LELC had the highest OS (80.8%) and DSS (85.7%) at 5 years. Multivariate analysis showed that older age, no surgery, and no radiation were independently significantly associated with worse survival (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Non-nasopharyngeal head and neck LELC is uncommon in the United States with salivary gland LELC having the highest OS and DSS compared with other head and neck sites. The optimal treatment with surgery and/or radiotherapy needs to be further investigated.