Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the esophagus: report of a case

The case of a 70-year-old Japanese woman with adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the esophagus is presented herein. The patient presented with progressive dysphagia, and an upper gastrointestinal series and esophagogastroscopy revealed a protruding tumor located in the middle portion of the esophagus. Ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT) suggested a lymph node metastasis between the left lobe of the liver and the esophagocardiac junction. Histopathologic examination of a biopsy specimen showed squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and a subtotal esophagectomy was performed under the preoperative diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma. However, the histopathologic diagnosis of the resected specimen proved to be ACC of the esophagus with a lymph node metastasis around the left gastric artery. We report the clinicopathological findings of this case and briefly discuss the clinical implications of ACC.