title: Spontaneous regression in small cell esophageal carcinoma.
abstract: Spontaneous regression or remission of cancers has been defined as the disappearance of the malignancies without any treatment or with obviously inadequate treatment. Spontaneous regression is rare, while any case with a small cell carcinoma in the esophagus was not found in the literature. We experienced a 73-year-old man with small-cell carcinoma in the thoracic esophagus whom underwent esophagectomy with lymphadenectomy. A pathological examination of the resected specimens found metastasis from the small cell carcinoma in the mediastinal lymph nodes, but no malignant cells in the esophageal lesion--an ulcer scar from which the biopsy specimen was taken to be a small-cell carcinoma. This may be the first case report that spontaneous regression in a small-cell carcinoma in the esophagus was found by esophagectomy and pathological examination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sueyoshi
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamana
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirouzu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016629:Esophagectomy; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D009365:Neoplasm Regression, Spontaneous