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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffIf your doctor suspects you might have salivary gland cancer, he or she will first do a physical exam, feeling for lumps in your jaw, neck and throat, feeling inside your mouth and inspecting your mouth with a small mirror and lights.
In order to detect abnormal tissue, your doctor may have you undergo imaging tests:
- Computerized tomography (CT) scan. A CT scan allows your doctor to see your organs in two-dimensional slices. Split-second computer processing creates these images as a series of very thin X-ray beams are passed through your body.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. An MRI scanner uses no X-rays. Instead, a computer creates tissue-slice images from data generated by a powerful magnetic field and radio waves. These images can be viewed from any direction or plane.
CT and MRI scans can help your doctor determine if you have a tumor, how large it is, and if it has spread outside of the salivary gland. If test results show an abnormality, your doctor will need to take a small tissue sample (biopsy) that will be examined in the laboratory. Results of the biopsy will show if the abnormal tissue is cancerous.
Further identification of your cancer
If the biopsy reveals salivary gland cancer, your doctor will then determine the type of cell in which the cancer began, as well as the disease's grade and stage, in order to recommend the most appropriate treatment. The grade of cancer is a factor your doctor will use to determine how quickly the tumor may grow or spread, and the stage defines the extent or spread of the cancer. Additional MRI or CT scans may be necessary to determine the cancer's stage.
