title: Esophageal cancer in patients with head and neck cancers.
abstract: Nine male patients with separate primary cancers of the esophagus and head and neck (pharynx, larynx) presented with a mean age of 56 years (41-69). They included 7 pharyngeal cancer patients and 2 laryngeal ones. Esophageal cancer was discovered synchronously in 6 patients and metachronously in 3 (1, 4, and 11 years later, respectively). The head and neck cancer was stage-I in one patient, stage-II in 4 and stage-IV in 4. The esophageal cancer was cervical in 2, thoracic in 6 and abdominal in 1. It was early cancer (stage-0) in 6 patients and advanced (stage-IV) in 3. The esophageal cancer was more advanced in the metachronous group, while it was early in the synchronous group. Since the head and neck cancer was advanced, all patients underwent a total laryngectomy for their head and neck cancers. As for esophageal surgery, a transhiatal esophagectomy was, in principle, performed for early cancers while a total thoracic esophagectomy was done for advanced cancers. For the reconstruction of the esophagus, a gastric tube was used. Four patients are still alive with a mean survival time of 25 months, whereas five died of cancer recurrence of either type a mean of 19 months after surgery. As compared with the survival rates of the patients with esophageal cancer alone, the 5-year survival rate was 18.2% for patients with double cancers in this series and 27.9% for those with esophageal cancer alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ryukyu University School of Medicine, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyazato
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tamai
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shiraishi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kusano
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koja
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery