Parotid Tumor - What the heck are "Basal Cells"?

Hi XaznaX

Welcome to CSN, sorry to see you have cancer but glad to found CSN.


Basal Basaloid Cell Carcinoma can be Cancer of the Salivary Glad, Lung, or the Skin, because they resembles each other. Highly malignant and poorly differentiated squamous epithelial tumor of the esophagus, which resembles adenoid cystic carcinoma of the salivary glands

I don’t know much more about this type of cancer but I am sure there are a lot of other who do.

rare salivary gland tumor
hello Xaznzax. I also was diagnosed with a salivary gland tumor, but mine was mucoepidermoid carcinoma. I have found that there isn't a lot of information on salivary tumors, they are very rare. your best bet will be to do searches for Salivary Gland Tumor, and then read from there. The info you can find on Basal Cell for skin works very similarly to salivary glands. your whole body is composed of different cell types. basal, clear, and squamous cells, etc. the best part about having your tumor be basaloid is that if they get good margins the chances of it recurring are very very low (just like with skin cancer). squamous cell of the salivary gland often comes back and/or spreads. my tumor consisted of multiple types of cells, thus the mucoepidermoid carcinoma (multiple cells, mucous secreting, basal, clear, and squamous cells) the only cells that had turned malignant for me were clear cells, clear cells respond well to radiation. before my surgery we had believed that my tumor was low grade, so they went in and removed it. when the biopsy came back it was determined to be intermediate grade, so I chose to have radiation done to help increase my odds of not having it come back. not everyone with a salivary gland tumor needs radiation, but it is often recommended, especially if they were unable to get clear margins.
This is a wonderful site for information when you are preparing for surgery, and later if you need additional treatments ( I hope you do not!). This is also a wonderful place to go to vent or to just chat with others who have had cancer/ are going through cancer treatments.
you have entered the beginning of a tough period...it is what I call the hurry up then wait. it is where you find out you have cancer, you get everything scheduled, and then you wait to have your surgery. cancer seems to be that way...you want to hurry, but you end up spending most of your time waiting. waiting for surgery, waiting for results, waiting for the doctor, etc.
wishing you the best of luck...if you have any questions, please just ask...it may take me awhile to answer or I may write back right away...depends on how my kids are behaving! (i have a 5 year, a 3 year and 11 month old).
I don't know if you pray or not, but I will keep you in my thoughts. I wish you a great surgeon, a fast recovery, and hugs even when you don't want them.
Hugs!