{"entity":{"id":"bartholin-gland-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Bartholin gland carcinoma","aka":["Bartholin gland cancer","Carcinoma of the Bartholin gland","Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland"],"tldr":"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).\n\nHow 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.\n\nHow common: 0.1 to 5 percent of vulvar neoplasms (Archives of Pathology 2007).\n\nTreatment: 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).","asOf":"2026-09-24","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholin_gland_carcinoma","links":[{"label":"NCI PDQ: vulvar cancer treatment","url":"https://www.cancer.gov/types/vulvar/treatment"},{"label":"Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 2017: Bartholin gland cancer, 275 reported cases","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.critrevonc.2017.06.005"},{"label":"Archives of Pathology 2007: adenoid cystic carcinoma of the Bartholin gland, an overview","url":"https://doi.org/10.5858/2007-131-796-accotb"}],"tags":["subtype-page","wave4","rare"],"related":["vulvar","hpv-associated-vulvar-cancer","hpv-independent-vulvar-cancer","adenoid-cystic-carcinoma","vulvar-melanoma"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["chemoradiation"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"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"],"standardOfCare":[{"setting":"All types","approach":"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.","refs":["vulvar","hpv-associated-vulvar-cancer","chemoradiation"]}],"stateOfArt":[],"history":[],"pipeline":[],"openProblems":[],"parent":"vulvar"},"route":"/cancers/bartholin-gland-carcinoma/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"adenoid-cystic-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Adenoid cystic carcinoma","route":"/cancers/adenoid-cystic-carcinoma/"},{"id":"hpv-associated-vulvar-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"HPV-associated vulvar squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/hpv-associated-vulvar-cancer/"},{"id":"hpv-independent-vulvar-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"HPV-independent vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (p53-mutant)","route":"/cancers/hpv-independent-vulvar-cancer/"},{"id":"vulvar","kind":"cancer","name":"Vulvar cancer","route":"/cancers/vulvar/"},{"id":"vulvar-melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Vulvar melanoma","route":"/cancers/vulvar-melanoma/"}],"term":[{"id":"chemoradiation","kind":"term","name":"Chemoradiation (chemoradiotherapy, CRT)","route":"/terms/chemoradiation/"}]}}