RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Specialized radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Giving radiation therapy after surgery may kill any tumor cells that remain after surgery. It is not yet known whether intensity-modulated radiation therapy or 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy is more effective in decreasing hearing loss in patients undergoing radiation therapy for parotid gland cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying intensity-modulated radiation therapy to see how well it works compared with 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy in decreasing hearing loss in patients who have undergone surgery for parotid tumors.
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Proportion of patients developing sensory-neural hearing loss of at least 10 dB at bone conduction as assessed by audiograms at 4000 Hz one year after treatment