[Effective treatment by both anti-androgen therapy and chemotherapy for a patient with advanced salivary duct carcinoma].

Salivary ductcarcinoma (SDC)is a high-grade malignant tumor arising predominantly in the parotid gland. Androgen receptor(AR)expression was mainly restricted to SDC in salivary cancer. We report successful treatment of a patient with advanced SDC using an endocrine chemotherapy. A 76-year-old man was hospitalized with lumbalgia and swelling of left submandibular region. Radiological examination indicated a tumor in left submandibular gland and metastatic tumors in lumbar vertebra, accompanied by swollen lymph nodes of the neck, mediastinum. Needle biopsies of both vertebral tumor and cervical lymph node revealed SDC. Positive nuclear staining was observed against AR in tumor cells of our patient by immunohistochemical analysis. He obtained a partial response after 1 course of treatment with both anti-androgen therapy and palliative chemotherapy using paclitaxel. In contrast to previous reports of poor response to chemotherapy alone and short-term survival of patients with SDC, our patient has demonstrated that chemotherapy combined with anti-androgen therapy may be an effective modality as a therapeutic regimen for SDC.