Clinical Study of Adenoid Cystic Carcinomas of the Head and Neck

Abstract

Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck is an infrequent tumor, which has a distinct natural history characterized by an indolent but persistent growth, late onset of distant metastases and eventual death of patients. During the past 30 years from 1978 to 2007, 29 patients of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck have been treated in our hospital. Sixteen patients (55.2%) were male, and 13 patients (44.8%) were female. Mean patient age was 58.5 years old, ranging from 20 to 82 years. In pathological analysis with histologic grading of adenoid cystic carcinoma, two patients (6.7%) involved Grade I, 20 patients (69.1%) Grade II, and seven patients (24.2%) Grade III. Histologic grading had no relation to the survival rate in our study. Local control would depend upon whether anatomical limitations restricted complete dissection of the tumor, rather than the pathological data of the tumor. The 5-year and 10-year survival rates were 81.3% and 60.6% by Kaplan-Meier analysis, respectively. The main finding of this study is that radical resection is a reasonable approach and postoperative radiotherapy is helpful for adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck. © 2008, Japan Society for Head and Neck Cancer. All rights reserved.