Spinal cord compression caused by adjacent adenocystic carcinoma of the skin

Adenocystic carcinomas are malignant tumours that arise from the major acce ssory salivary glands. Cutaneous involvement can result from direct extensi on from a salivary gland neoplasm. Cutaneous adenocystic carcinomas remote from adjacent salivary tissue are rare. We present the case of an elderly p atient with primary cutaneous adenoid cystic carcinoma causing spinal cord compression at the L1-L2 level. The patient was operated on and the tumour totally removed. No similar cases have been found in our review of the lite rature.