Incidence of second primary breast cancer among patients with a first primary salivary gland tumor.

A survey was conducted through the Virginia Tumor Registry to ascertain whether there was a higher-than-expected rate of second primary breast cancers among women having a first primary tumor (benign or malignant) of the salivary glands. The population included 372 patients (182 men and 190 women) diagnosed between January 1, 1960 and December 31, 1979. Second primary breast cancer occurrence among women in this group was 4.8 times the expected number (P = 0.0102). Ages of those developing a second primary fell between 37 and 79 years. No racial prevalence was observed. The time of diagnosis of the first and second primary tumors was more than 6 years in 75% of the cases. It was concluded that women in our population incurred a fourfold-to-fivefold increased risk of a second primary breast cancer subsequent to the first primary salivary gland tumor. Consideration of this observation should be in the minds of clinicians seeing patients for follow-up.