# Bartholin gland carcinoma

Source: https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/  
OnCo record `bartholin-gland-carcinoma` (Cancer). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Bartholin gland carcinoma is a very rare vulvar cancer arising in the lubricating glands at the entrance to the vagina, often mistaken at first for a cyst or abscess in a postmenopausal woman. It can be a squamous cancer, an adenocarcinoma or an adenoid cystic carcinoma, each behaving differently; it is treated with surgery and radiotherapy borrowed from vulvar cancer, having no trials of its own.

## Summary

Bartholin gland carcinoma is an extremely rare condition with no phase 3 trials, consensus or guidelines; of 275 reported cases with histology specified in 90.4 percent, 30.7 percent were squamous cell carcinoma, 29.6 percent adenoid cystic carcinoma and 25 percent adenocarcinoma, and adenocarcinoma histotype and positive nodes correlated with worse prognosis (Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 2017). Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland, with about 60 cases reported by 2007, is a slow-growing but locally very aggressive tumour with cribriform architecture, perineural and lymphatic invasion and a high capacity for recurrence and pain (Archives of Pathology 2007). Bartholin gland tumours are 0.1 to 5 percent of vulvar neoplasms (Archives of Pathology 2007).

How it differs from its parent: the vulvar cancer page covers HPV-associated and HPV-independent squamous carcinoma; Bartholin gland carcinoma is deep rather than surface disease, presents as a mass in the posterior labium, includes glandular and adenoid cystic types with their own spread patterns (perineural for adenoid cystic, nodal for adenocarcinoma) and needs deeper surgical margins.

How common: 0.1 to 5 percent of vulvar neoplasms (Archives of Pathology 2007).

Treatment: wide or radical local excision with inguinofemoral node assessment, postoperative radiotherapy for close margins, node involvement or adenoid cystic histology, and chemoradiation for advanced disease, following the vulvar cancer page; centralisation to referral centres is recommended (Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 2017).

## Fields

- Kind: Cancer
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: Bartholin gland cancer; Carcinoma of the Bartholin gland; Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland
- Tags: subtype-page; wave4; rare
- Group: gynaecologic
- Burden: 0.1 to 5 percent of vulvar neoplasms (Archives of Pathology 2007); 275 cases had been reported in 133 publications by 2017, so no phase 3 trial exists (Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 2017).
- Subtypes: Squamous cell carcinoma of the Bartholin gland (30.7 percent; treated as vulvar squamous carcinoma); Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland (29.6 percent; perineural spread, late recurrence); Adenocarcinoma of the Bartholin gland (25 percent; worse prognosis); Transitional cell and other rare carcinomas of the Bartholin gland
- Biomarkers: Histological type (squamous, adenoid cystic, adenocarcinoma); Perineural and lymphatic invasion (adenoid cystic); Inguinofemoral node status; HPV and p16 in the squamous type

## Sections of this record

The page is a hub with ten sections in reading order; large sections have their own page. The same plan as JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/sections.json

- Overview (on the hub): The TL;DR, the family this cancer belongs to, the organ, who gets it and what the state of the art is. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/#overview
- What it is (on the hub): Anatomy, the subtypes and how they differ, how it is staged, and where advanced disease spreads. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/#what-it-is [4 subtypes]
- Finding it (on the hub): How it shows itself, how it is confirmed, what screening exists, and the biomarkers clinicians test for. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/#finding-it [4 biomarkers]
- Treating it (on the hub): The standard of care by setting, the medicines, surgery and radiotherapy named in it, and the regimens behind them. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/#treating-it [1 setting]
- Evidence (on the hub): Trials recruiting now, the landmark trials, the key papers and what they mean, the latest literature, and the milestones year by year. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/#evidence
- The science (on the hub): The molecular landscape: the targets and how often each appears, the pathways, the mechanics stages and the preclinical models. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/#science
- Where you are (own page): Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, and the expert centres with trials on record. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/where-you-are/
- Living with it (on the hub): The decisions you may face, the aids that walk through them, the warnings on record, the first sixty days and the questions to ask. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/#living-with-it [7 questions]
- What is coming (own page): Everything in development, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/coming/
- Data (own page): Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked. https://onco.cc/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/data/ [1 connected records]

## Standard of care

- All types: Wide or radical excision with node assessment; postoperative radiotherapy for close margins, nodes or adenoid cystic histology; chemoradiation for advanced disease as on the vulvar cancer page. ([Vulvar cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/vulvar/), [HPV-associated vulvar squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hpv-associated-vulvar-cancer/), [Chemoradiation (chemoradiotherapy, CRT)](https://onco.cc/terms/chemoradiation/))

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholin_gland_carcinoma
- NCI PDQ: vulvar cancer treatment: https://www.cancer.gov/types/vulvar/treatment
- Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 2017: Bartholin gland cancer, 275 reported cases: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.critrevonc.2017.06.005
- Archives of Pathology 2007: adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland, an overview: https://doi.org/10.5858/2007-131-796-accotb

## Connected records

- cancers: [Adenoid cystic carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/adenoid-cystic-carcinoma/), [HPV-associated vulvar squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hpv-associated-vulvar-cancer/), [HPV-independent vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (p53-mutant)](https://onco.cc/cancers/hpv-independent-vulvar-cancer/), [Vulvar cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/vulvar/), [Vulvar melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/vulvar-melanoma/)
- terms: [Chemoradiation (chemoradiotherapy, CRT)](https://onco.cc/terms/chemoradiation/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/bartholin-gland-carcinoma.json