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 wit h progressive dysphagia, and an upper gastrointestinal series and esop hagogastroscopy revealed a protruding tumor located in the middle port ion 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 bi opsy specimen showed squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and a subtotal esop hagectomy was performed under the preoperative diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma. However, the histopathologic diagnosis of the resected spe cimen proved to be ACC of the esophagus with a lymph node metastasis a round the left gastric artery. We report the clinicopathological findi ngs of this case and briefly discuss the clinical implications of ACC.