Background and objective: The incidence of primary adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lung is relatively rare and the optimal treatment strategy is still unclear.
Methods: Sixteen adenoid cystic carcinoma patients were treated at our institute from 1972 to 1998 and their clinical features, treatments and survivals were reviewed.
Results: Half of all patients were female and the median age was 46 ranging from 30 to 64. All primary lesions were located in the central bronchial tree and 80% of the patients had some symptoms. Eleven patients underwent a resection of the tumor with/without plasty of the trachea or bronchus. Although 6 (55%) of 11 patients had a microscopic residual tumor after resection, 5 patients who received postoperative radiotherapy survived without recurrence from 3 to 17 years. Five patients received radiotherapy as their initial treatment and all tumors responded well to the treatment. The 5-year and 10-year survival rates were 91 and 76% without local recurrence in the resected group and 40 and 0% in the nonresected group, respectively.
Conclusion: These observations suggest that surgical resection should be selected first whenever possible, and, in addition, adenoid cystic carcinoma is sensitive to radiotherapy.