Adenoid cystic carcinoma metastatic to the kidney: a series of 10 patients emphasizing unilateral presentation and long time interval from primary diagnosis

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC) metastasis to kidney is rare. We identified 10 patients with metastatic AdCC in multi-institutional collaboration. Core needle biopsy was the most common specimen (n = 6). Patients were predominately female (n = 7) with a median age of 48 years (35–62 years). The most common primary location of the AdCC was head and neck (n = 6, among them parotid gland = 4), followed by lung (n = 2), breast (n = 1), and vulva (n = 1). Median lapse between primary AdCC and renal metastasis was almost 13 years (154 months, range 1–336 months). Moreover, all but one patient had unilateral kidney metastasis. The majority of metastatic AdCC within the kidney demonstrated mixed growth patterns, frequently cribriform, and tubular morphology. Follow-up available for 8 patients showed 6 alive with disease and 2 died of disease (the longest survival was 4 years past the diagnosis of renal metastasis). A systematic literature review including 29 patients revealed that kidney metastasis by AdCC is usually a late event, is typically unilateral, and is usually composed of one to three foci, and thus has clinical features which mimic a primary renal tumor.