[A clinicopathological study of small-cell esophageal carcinoma].
Small-cell esophageal carcinoma (SCEC) is not uncommon. From 1979 through 1994, 42 cases of SCEC were diagnosed among 711 patients with cancer of the esophagus, with a relative frequency of 5.9%. Differential diagnosis is difficult according to clinical symptoms and signs. However, SCEC differs greatly from squamous-cell carcinoma of the esophagus in histopathology and biologic behavior but is similar to small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Surgical treatment alone of SCEC patients has a mean survival period of 11.2 months while patients treated with radiotherapy alone has a longer survival (22.8 months). No case was treated only with chemotherapy in this group of patients. Those received no treatment could survive 6.2 months only. Therefore, SCEC is a very aggressive tumor with poor prognosis. Histochemical and immunohistochemical study revealed both epithelial and neuro-endocrine differentiation potentials suggesting that SCEC probably originates from mulfipotential primitive stem cells in the esophageal mucosa.
Li
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Department of Pathology, 81th Hospital of PLA, Nanjing.
Zhang
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Lai
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015996:Survival Rate