Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2004 Dec 15;10(24):3680-2.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v10.i24.3680.

Primary small cell carcinoma of esophagus: report of 9 cases and review of literature

Zhu Wu  1 , Jian-Yang Ma, Jun-Jie Yang, Yong-Fan Zhao, Shang-Fu Zhang
Affiliations
Review

Primary small cell carcinoma of esophagus: report of 9 cases and review of literature

Zhu Wu et al. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Aim: To analyze the clinical manifestations, pathological features and treatment of primary small cell carcinoma (SCC) of the esophagus and to review the literature on this entity.

Methods: The records of 9 patients with primary esophageal small cell carcinoma were examined and the demographic data, presenting symptoms, methods of tumor diagnosis, and types of treatment given, response to treatment, pathologic findings, and clinical outcome were reviewed. Features of mixed patterns of histological differentiation and lymph node metastases were specifically sought.

Results: All the patients reported dysphagia, weight loss and chest pain as the initial symptoms. In 5 cases the tumors were located in the mid-esophagus, 3 cases in the lower third of the esophagus and 1 case in the upper third. The average length of esophageal involvement was 5 cm. They underwent radical resection, regional lymph node clearance and esophageal-stomach anastomosis in thorax or at neck. Two patients had a stage IIa disease, five had a stage IIb disease, and the other two had a stage III disease of International Union Contrele Cancer (UICC). All of them were histologically and immunohistochemically confirmed SCC of esophagus. Immunohistochemical staining for neuron-specific enolase (NSE), synaptophsin (Syn) and chromogranin A exhibited strong immunoreactivity in all specimens. Three of the nine resected specimens showed foci of squamous cell carcinoma in situ. Metastasis was present in 7 of 9 adjacent lymph nodes. All the patients survived the operations and made an uneventful postoperative recovery. They received adjuvant systemic chemotherapy and local radiation therapy after discharge. During follow-up, three patients developed multiple liver, brain, lung and bone metastases and died between 5 and 18 mo after the diagnosis. Three patients developed widespread metastasis disease and died between 18 and 37 mo after the diagnosis. There was no local tumor recurrence in these 6 patients. The other three patients were lost during follow-up.

Conclusion: Primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus is a rare but very malignant tumor. Radical resection combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy is helpful in limited stage cases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunohistochemical staining in SCC of esophagus (LSAB × 145). A: NSE staining; B: Syn staining; C: chromogranin A staining.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pantvaidya GH, Pramesh CS, Deshpande MS, Jambhekar NA, Sharma S, Deshpande RK. Small cell carcinoma of the esophagus: the Tata Memorial Hospital experience. Ann Thorac Surg. 2002;74:1924–1927. - PubMed
    1. Mitani M, Kuwabara Y, Shinoda N, Sato A, Fujii Y. Long-term survivors after the resection of limited esophageal small cell carcinoma. Dis Esophagus. 2000;13:259–261. - PubMed
    1. Nemoto K, Zhao HJ, Goto T, Ogawa Y, Takai Y, Matsushita H, Takeda K, Takahashi C, Saito H, Yamada S. Radiation therapy for limited-stage small-cell esophageal cancer. Am J Clin Oncol. 2002;25:404–407. - PubMed
    1. Shamelian SO, Nortier JW. Extrapulmonary small-cell carcinoma: report of three cases and update of therapy and prognosis. Neth J Med. 2000;56:51–55. - PubMed
    1. Makino H, Tajiri T, Onda M, Sasajima K, Miyashita M, Nomura T, Maruyama H, Nagasawa S, Tsuchiya Y, Hagiwara N, et al. Effectiveness of preoperative chemotherapy using carboplatin (CBDCA) and surgery against an esophageal small cell carcinoma. Dis Esophagus. 2002;15:237–241. - PubMed