Management of primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus.
BACKGROUND
Primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus is rare. Although surgery is successful in eradicating local tumor, the five-year survival rate of patients with primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus after resection is lower than that of patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical manifestations, pathological features and treatment of primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus.


METHODS
A total of 73 patients with primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus who had been treated by surgery from 1984 to 2003 were analyzed retrospectively.


RESULTS
In this series, the overall resection rate was 94.5% (69/73), the radical resection rate 89.0% (65/73) and the operative mortality 1.4% (1/73). The 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates of patients were 50.7%, 13.7% and 8.2%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus is rare with a poor prognosis. Surgical resection is the leading method for patients with stage I or II primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Postoperative chemotherapy is beneficial to these patients. The patients of stage III or IV should be given chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Sun
Ke-lin
KL
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China. kelin.sun.md@sohu.com
He
Jie
J
Cheng
Gui-yu
GY
Chai
Li-xun
LX
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate