Lymph node metastases in adenoid cystic carcinoma

The clinical characteristics of 76 patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma seen during a 22-year period are described. Lymph node metastases at presentation or later occurred almost exclusively in men, and the five-year rate of "node-free" survival was 62 per cent for men and 95 per cent for women. Node metastases were more common in poorly differentiated tumors, but site and stage of the primary disease did not affect the metastatic rate. Surgery scarcely improved the rate of survival of patients with nodal metastases. The authors were unable to confirm previous observations that embolic nodal metastases at a distance from the primary tumor do not occur.