Mucoepidermoid and adenoid cystic carcinomas of the esophagus.

Four case reports of patients with tumors of the esophagus resembling those of salivary gland origin are presented with a review of the cases published to date. These tumors arise in the submucosal glands in the esophagus and are histologically similar to adenoid cystic and mucoepidermoid carcinomas of the salivary glands. The mucoepidermoid variety occurs more frequently in men than in women, and the adenoid cystic carcinomas are equally distributed between the sexes. In most of the cases reported the tumors were resectable but the overall survival rate is poor and is similar to the rates found with the more frequent squamous cell cancer of the esophagus.