Adenoid cystic carcinoma is a relatively rare tumour which arises in the parotid and submandibular salivary glands. Initial management is surgical, often with post-operative radiotherapy, but local relapse is common and distant metastasis not infrequent. Chemotherapy is generally reserved for cases where symptoms are not controlled by other means, since the tumour is slow growing and the response rate frequently disappointing. Cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) both show single agent activity in this disease but had not been previously investigated in combination. All patients referred for palliative chemotherapy of metastatic, symptomatic, histologically confirmed adenoid cystic carcinoma between November 1990 and February 1994 were considered for this study. The drugs were administered as follows: cisplatin 100 mg/m2 with appropriate pre- and post-hydration and 5-FU on a 4-day schedule of 1 g/m2/day. A total of 11 patients (7 male, 4 female) with median age 53 years (range 34-69) received 46 courses of chemotherapy (median four, range one to six). All patients had prior surgery and 8 had previously received radiotherapy. There were no objective responses of > 50% reduction in tumour size. 3 patients had a minor response and two progressed on treatment. The symptomatic response rate, however, was 64%, which compares favourably with other previously reported regimens. Toxicity was manageable. The median time to tumour progression was 9 months (range 0-38) and median survival was 12 months (range 1-65). This cisplatin/5-FU regimen would appear to produce a low rate of objective response but useful palliative benefits in advanced symptomatic adenoid cystic carcinoma. Prior series suggest that a higher objective response rate may be possible with a platinum/anthracycline/fluorouracil combination, and investigation of such a regimen is warranted.