Beastie Boys Adam Yauch Dies of Parotid Cancer

On May 4, 2012, Adam Yauch, one of the founding members of the Beastie Boys, died of a "rare parotid gland cancer" that he had been battling since its diagnosis in 2009. For those who do not know what a parotid gland is... it is one of the major glands that produce saliva or spit and is located immediately in front of the ear (looks like fish eggs in the picture taken from Wikipedia). It is about the size of the palm of the hand.

It is unclear exactly what type of parotid gland cancer Adam Yauch had, but here's a list of what it could have been:

• Acinic Cell Carcinoma
• Adenocarcinoma
• Squamous Cell Carcinoma
• Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma
• Carcinoma ex-pleomorphic adenoma

Thankfully, the vast majority of parotid tumors are benign growths such a pleomorphic adenoma or Warthin's tumor.

Typically, with any type of parotid mass, the sequence of events to diagnose and treat such masses occur in a standard fashion:

1) Mass appreciated by patient or primary care doctor
2) Patient sees ENT who confirms mass localized to parotid gland
3) CT scan of the neck with contrast ordered to further evaluate the mass
4) Fine needle biopsy obtained of the mass for pathologic diagnosis
5) Surgical excision performed... an operation called "parotidectomy"
6) If needle biopsy indicated cancer, neck dissection is also performed to remove all lymph nodes that may contain cancer followed by radiation therapy to the whole area.

Parotidectomy surgery is a "difficult" surgery mainly in the sense that one of the main risks of surgery is permanent facial paralysis. Why? It is because the nerve that allows facial movement goes right through this gland (in yellow in the picture above).

As such, the vast amount of time dedicated to this surgery which may last anywhere from one to several hours is identifying and isolating all involved branches of the facial nerve. The actual parotid gland mass removal takes less than 15 minutes.

Read more about this surgery here.

Source:
Adam Yauch Dead: Beastie Boys' MCA Dies After Battling Cancer. Huffington Post 5/4/12.

Video of Endoscopic Salivary Stone Removal (Sialendoscopy)

The Doctors TV show actually produced a great (and accurate) segment on a relatively new procedure called sialendoscopy. This procedure allows a surgeon to remove a stone that may be blocking your spit gland from draining saliva into the mouth. This is analogous to a kidney stone which blocks urine from draining from the kidney into the bladder resulting in painful swelling of the kidney (causing flank pain).

How does a person know if they have a salivary gland blockage due to a stone? There is a painful swelling located right in front and/or below the ear if the parotid gland is affected, or under the jawbone if the submandibular gland is blocked.

If the blockage persists long enough, it may lead to an infection of the gland itself (sialadenitis).

Traditionally, if the stone doesn't pass on its own with conservative measures, stone removal required surgical removal of the entire gland or making an incision and removing the stone like it's a tumor mass.

Watch the video of this procedure being performed as shown on The Doctors here.

At this time, the only local surgeon I am aware of who offers this unique procedure in the mid-Atlantic region is Dr. Arjun Joshi.

Dr. Arjun Joshi (George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC)
2021 K St NW, Ste 206
Washington, DC 20006
Office Number: 202-741-3250
www.dcheadandneck.com