[A case report of small cell carcinoma of the esophagus with remarkable response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy]

Abstract

A 61-year-old male consulted our hospital with complaints of pain in swallowing. The X-ray Barium studies and upper gastrointestinal (UGI) scope revealed an irregular ulcerated lesion in the middle portion of the esophagus. He was diagnosed as having small cell carcinoma of the esophagus by means of biopsy specimens. Three courses of combined chemotherapy with CDDP, etoposide and 5-FU were used before operation. Following the chemotherapy, according to the UGI scope findings, the tumor of the esophagus disappeared. An esophagectomy through a thoracolaparotomy was performed. The chemotherapy resulted in a Grade 2 response, as ascertained by means of pathological findings for the resected specimen. After an additional course of chemotherapy, the patient was discharged from the hospital. Although we performed the curative resection for this patient, extensive recurrences and distant metastasis to the mediastinal lymph nodes and lung were found in less than a year. It is said that this tumor has a poor prognosis, and the one-year survival rate is about 10% following the treatment. It is necessary to combine surgery with effective chemotherapy and irradiation to obtain a good prognosis after resection of small cell carcinoma of the esophagus.