Primary tracheal tumors occur infrequently, accounting for less than 0.1% of all tumors. Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is the second most common type of malignancy of the trachea after squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Little has been reported on the risk factors for tracheal ACC. The purpose of this study is to describe a case of tracheal ACC in a patient who had been exposed to rubber fumes, and to review the relationship between tracheal ACC and rubber fumes.

A 48-year-old man who had been experiencing aggravation of dyspnea for several months was diagnosed as having ACC of the trachea on the basis of a pathologic examination of a biopsy specimen obtained via laser microscopy-guided resection. The patient had been exposed to rubber fumes for 10 years at a tire manufacturing factory where he worked until ACC was diagnosed. His job involved preheating and changing rubber molds during the curing process.

ACC of both the trachea and the salivary glands show very similar patterns with regard to histopathology and epidemiology and are therefore assumed to have a common etiology. Rubber manufacturing is an occupational risk factor for the development of salivary gland tumors. Further, rubber fumes have been reported to be mutagenic. The exposure level to rubber fumes during the curing process at the patient’s workplace was estimated to be close to or higher than British Occupational Exposure Limits. Therefore, tracheal ACC in this case might have been influenced by occupational exposure to rubber fumes.