title: Carcinoma arising from an epiphrenic diverticulum: a frequently misdiagnosed disease.
abstract: Epiphrenic diverticulum is rare, comprising of about 10% of all esophageal diverticula. Carcinoma arising within such a diverticulum is even less common. We report on two patients with squamous cell carcinoma arising from an epiphrenic diverticulum. Some features of malignant change related to the epiphrenic diverticula were misdiagnosed or missed in our cases and other reports due to lack of clinical experience. It is important to exclude the possibility of malignancy as this is vital for surgical planning. Although the prognosis for patients with malignancy arising from an epiphrenic diverticulum is generally poor, a high index of suspicion may increase the chance of cure.
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Szu-Tsen
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Chung-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Hsu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D018450:Disease Progression; D004936:Diverticulum, Esophageal / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology