The short answer
Treatment may involve surgery, radiation, systemic treatment in selected cases, and clinical trials, but the right discussion depends on gland, subtype, grade, facial-nerve involvement, stage, and resectability.
Treatment categories may include surgery, radiation, systemic treatment in selected cases, and clinical trials.
The plan depends on gland, subtype, grade, facial-nerve involvement, stage, and resectability.
NCI says treatment at each stage depends on whether the cancer is low-grade (slow growing) or high-grade (fast growing).
The facial nerve controls movement in your face. Ask what the risk to it is for your operation and what rehabilitation exists.
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This page is for people with salivary gland cancer, and their families, who are getting ready to talk about treatment.
The short answer
Salivary gland cancer forms in one of the glands that make saliva, near your jaw, cheeks, or mouth. Treatment depends on the tumor's grade. Grade describes how abnormal the cells look, and how fast they are likely to grow. Stage and location matter too. Surgery is a common treatment. Radiation may be given after it.
How grade changes the plan
Doctors describe these tumors as low-grade or high-grade. NCI describes low-grade cancer as slow growing and high-grade cancer as fast growing. At each stage, NCI lists different options by grade. Ask your team which grade your tumor is. Also ask how that shaped their recommendation.
Surgery
Surgery removes the cancer, plus some healthy tissue around it. In some cases, lymph nodes are removed too. The facial nerve controls movement in your face. Ask directly what the facial nerve risk is for your surgery. Also ask what happens if the nerve is affected.
Radiation therapy
Radiation uses high-energy x-rays, delivered by a machine outside your body, to kill cancer cells. It may be given after surgery to lower the chance of the cancer coming back. NCI also describes fast-neutron and photon-beam radiation. NCI lists them among options at several stages, for both low-grade and high-grade cancer. Radiation may also be used without surgery.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to stop cancer cells from growing or dividing. For salivary gland cancer, NCI lists chemotherapy for some low-grade stage II and III cancers. At other stages it is listed mainly as part of clinical trials.
How stage adds to the picture
At stage I, NCI lists surgery with or without radiation for both grades. For low-grade cancer, fast-neutron radiation is also an option. For high-grade cancer, chemotherapy is offered in clinical trials. At stage III, surgery may include lymph node removal, with radiation after. For stage IV, NCI lists fast-neutron or photon-beam radiation, and trials of chemotherapy with or without radiation. Your team will walk you through exactly where your tumor falls and why.
Side effects to plan for ahead of time
If your facial nerve is affected during surgery, you may notice weakness or drooping on that side of your face. Ask early whether this is expected to improve. Also ask what rehabilitation options exist. NCI says radiation to the head and neck can cause mouth problems such as dry mouth, taste changes and mouth sores. Ask your team what to expect, and what can ease them along the way.
Which symptoms cannot wait
A fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher means different things depending on your treatment. If you are having chemotherapy, or radiation given together with chemotherapy, the CDC calls this a medical emergency and says to call your doctor immediately. Call your care team immediately, day or night. If you cannot reach them quickly, go to an emergency department and tell them straight away that you are having chemotherapy.
If surgery or radiation alone is your treatment, call your care team right away for that temperature. Also call for sudden new facial weakness after surgery that was not there right after your operation. The same goes for signs of infection at a surgical site, like growing redness, swelling, or drainage. Call your care team right away. For emergencies call 911 or go to the ER.
What to ask your care team
- Is my tumor low-grade or high-grade, and how does that shape my treatment plan?
- What is the risk to my facial nerve with this surgery, and what would recovery look like?
- Will I need radiation after surgery, and why or why not?
- What side effects should I expect, and which ones need a same-day call?
Sources
Common questions
What is salivary gland cancer, and what decides the treatment?
It forms in one of the glands that make saliva, near your jaw, cheeks or mouth. Treatment depends on the tumor's grade, which describes how abnormal the cells look and how fast they are likely to grow. Stage and location matter too. Surgery is a common treatment, and radiation may be given after it.
Why does grade matter so much?
NCI describes low-grade cancer as slow growing and high-grade cancer as fast growing. Treatment options at each stage differ by grade, so ask which grade your tumor is and how that shaped the recommendation.
What is the risk to my face from surgery?
The facial nerve controls movement in your face. If the nerve is affected, you may notice weakness or drooping on that side of your face. Ask directly what the risk is for your surgery, whether any weakness is expected to improve, and what rehabilitation options exist.
Will I need radiation as well as surgery?
Radiation may be given after surgery to lower the chance of the cancer coming back. NCI also lists fast-neutron and photon-beam radiation at several stages, and radiation alone for some people. NCI says radiation to the head and neck can cause mouth problems such as dry mouth, taste changes and mouth sores.
Which symptoms cannot wait?
If chemotherapy or chemoradiation is part of your treatment, a fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher is a medical emergency: call your care team immediately, day or night, because those drugs lower the white cells that fight infection. If you cannot reach them quickly, go to an emergency department and say you are having chemotherapy. Without chemotherapy, call your care team right away for that same fever, for sudden new facial weakness after surgery that was not there right after your operation, or for signs of infection at a surgical site such as growing redness, swelling or drainage. For emergencies call 911 or go to the ER.
Questions to ask your doctor
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Fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher during chemo, severe pain, or trouble breathing: call your cancer care team right away, day or night. Call 911 for an emergency.
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Sources last checked: 2026-08-13 what this meansLast updated: 2026-09-29Next planned review: 2027-01-22
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Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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