Prognostic significance of the location of intramural metastasis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Although the presence of an intramural metastasis (IM) from esophageal cancer is associated with a poor prognosis, some patients with IM have a relatively favorable course.


METHODS
Clinicopathological factors including number, location, and size of IM and the distance between the primary tumor and IM were assessed in 212 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent esophagectomy.


RESULTS
Twenty-three patients (10.8%) had IM. IM size ranged from 2 to 100 mm (18+/-26), and the distance between primary lesion and IM ranged from 5 to 70 mm (27+/-18). Survival of ten patients with an IM less than 20 mm from the primary tumor was significantly longer than that of 13 patients with a more distant IM ( P=0.0184); median survival time were 2.3 and 0.7 years, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
A subgroup of patients with an IM less than 20 mm from the primary esophageal cancer may have a relatively favorable prognosis. When an IM is found preoperatively or in a resected specimen, measurement of the distance between the primary tumor and the IM might be useful in determination of treatment strategy and evaluation of prognosis.
Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, 466-8550 Nagoya, Japan. nyuasa@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Norihiro
N
Yuasa
Hideo
H
Miyake
Tatsuharu
T
Yamada
Koji
K
Oda
Yuji
Y
Nimura
Tetsuro
T
Nagasaka
Tatsuo
T
Hattori
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016629:Esophagectomy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome