['Adenoid cystic carcinomas are rare tumors with an indolent clinical course, but frequent local relapses. The identification of tumors with a higher relapse risk seems to be interesting. Hence we investigated parameters of glucose metabolism, which were found associated with poor prognosis in other malignancies.', 'Specimen of 29 patients were investigated immunohistochemically with antibodies against p-AKT, TKTL-1 (transketolase-like 1), M2PK (M2 pyruvate kinase), and GLUT-1. Proliferation was investigated by staining with Ki67. The tumors were located at the major or minor salivary glands. Only the typical cribriform subtype was investigated. The initial tumor stage was pT1 or pT2.', 'Expression of p-AKT was significantly (P = 0.036) associated with a higher relapse risk in multivariate analysis. Low expression of M2PK was non-significantly (P = 0.065) predictive for a higher risk. TKTL-1 and GLUT-1 were expressed in the majority of cases, albeit not associated with relapse risk.'] Does expression of p-AKT characterize adenoid cystic carcinomas of head and neck with a higher risk for tumor relapses?