Poor prognosis after lung resection for patients with adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the prognosis of adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung after lung resection in comparison with other types of carcinoma. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed charts of patients who underwent lung resection for lung cancer. RESULTS: Surgical outcomes for 30 patients with adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung, who were treated between 1976 and 1998, were compared with the surgical results for 1,219 patients similarly treated for adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma during the same period. Adenosquamous carcinoma comprised only 2.1% of 1,408 lung cancer cases treated by resection. The overall cumulative 5-year survival rate was only 6.2% for the patients with adenosquamous carcinoma, indicating a significantly poorer prognosis than for adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: The cumulative survival rate for patients with adenosquamous carcinoma in pathologic stages IA to IIB was similar to that of patients with stage IIIA adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma.     

胆囊腺鳞癌和鳞癌与胆囊腺癌的临床对比研究

目的 探讨胆囊腺鳞癌和鳞癌的临床特点.方法 回顾性分析112例胆囊癌患者的临床资料,将其中11例胆囊腺鳞癌和鳞癌的临床特点和预后与同期收治的101例胆囊腺癌进行比较.结果 腺鳞癌/鳞癌组与腺癌组的肿瘤浸润分期为13或T4的比例分别为100%和53%,两组的差异有统计学意义(X2=7.013,P=0.008).腺鳞癌/鳞癌与进展期腺癌(T3或T4期)的远处转移发生率分别为0和35%,差异有统计学意义(X2=3.900,P=0.048),两组的淋巴结转移率为82%和87%(X2=0.000,P=1.000).腺鳞癌/鳞癌组和进展期的腺癌组的胃肠道侵犯发生率分别为45%和15%,差异无统计学意义(X2=3.618,P=0.054).两组的中位生存期分别为5个月和4个月,生存差异无统计学意义(X2=0.359,P=0.549).结论 胆囊腺鳞癌和鳞癌的局部侵袭性强,而远处转移率低.淋巴结转移情况与腺癌相似.     

Adenosquamous lung carcinoma: clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognosis

Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung is a rare and poorly described entity. At the University of Chicago between 1974 and 1985, 2.3% (20/873) of patients with lung cancer had well-differentiated adenosquamous carcinoma. As in non-small cell lung cancer, patients with Stage I disease were amenable to operation with 60% (3/5) free from disease between one and six years postoperatively. However, Stage II adenosquamous carcinoma (14 patients) exhibited highly aggressive behavior with rapid progression of disease (mean interval, 2.1 months). Despite combinations of surgery (6 patients), chemotherapy (6 patients, one response), and radiotherapy (10 patients, no response), median survival for patients with Stage III adenosquamous carcinoma was 5.0 months, worse than that for Stage III small cell cancer (9.6 months), adenocarcinoma (9.0 months), and squamous cancer (7.8 months).     

Clinical study of forty-two patients who underwent resection for pulmonary adenosquamous carcinoma

Pulmonary adenosquamous carcinoma is a rare malignant tumor as defined by the Japan Lung Cancer Society Classification. At our institution, of the 1,023 patients who underwent resection for primary lung cancer, 42 (4.0%) had adenosquamous carcinoma. Here, we present the clinical features of this malignant tumor. The male : female ratio was low. Many tumors were located peripherally, and the positive rate for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was 54.8%; these clinical findings were similar to those of adenocarcinoma. On the other hand, many tumors had relatively large diameter, and most of the patients were heavy smokers; these findings were consistent with those of squamous cell carcinoma. Hence, the cases of adenosquamous carcinoma had the characteristics of both adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The prognosis of patients with adenosquamous carcinoma was poorer than those of patients with adenocarcinoma and those with squamous cell carcinoma, irrespective of whether it was stages I or II. Adenosquamous carcinoma is characterized by a highly aggressive biological behavior and a high rate of early metastasis. Therefore, even if the diagnosis is made at an early phase, an aggressive approach, including adjuvant chemotherapy, might be necessary for adenosquamous carcinoma.     

非小细胞肺癌术后支气管切缘癌与预后

为探讨肺癌术后支气管切缘癌的发生率及预后特点，提高肺癌５年生存率，回顾总结１９８１～１９９０年经手术治疗１０２４例非小细胞肺癌，显微镜下发现支气管残端癌阳性者８９例占８．７％。此８９例病人平均５年生存率２３．７％。中位数生存期２７．６个月。其中ＰＴＮＭＩ、ＩＩ、ＩＩａ和ＩＩｂ期病人平均生存期分别为４４．３、２７．１、１２．４和１２．６个月，鳞癌、腺癌、大细胞癌及鳞腺混合癌病人的平均生存期分别为３１．０、１９．３、１４．８和２８．３个月。结论：影响病人预后的因素主要是病变的ＴＮＭ分期及细胞类型，对有残端癌的病人应强调术后综合治疗     

A clinical study of small advanced lung cancer with metastasis to mediastinal lymph node

From January 1981 through December 1989, 15 patients with small advanced lung cancer were treated surgically at the Tenri Hospital. In these cases, the diameter of peripheral lung cancer did not exceed 3.0 cm (T1) and mediastinal lymph nodes were proved to be N2 postoperatively by lymph node dissection or sampling. The histological types were as follows: 8 adenocarcinoma, 4 large cell carcinoma, 1 squamous cell carcinoma, 1 small cell carcinoma, and 1 adenosquamous carcinoma. All but one patient were received postoperative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. The survival rate was 44.5% at 3 years, and median survival time was 36 months. The mediastinal lymph node metastasis with small peripheral lung cancer (T1N2) was ominous, and it should be said that complete mediastinal lymph node dissection and adjuvant therapy were indispensable to small advanced adenocarcinoma of lung.     

Scar Carcinoma of the Lung: Fact or Fantasy?

Previous reports on lung surgery have considered scar carcinoma of the lung as a separate clinical entity associated with a fairly favorable prognosis. The clinical and morphological characteristics of peripheral adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous cell carcinoma in 75 patients and of scar carcinoma in 19 individuals were compared. Location of the lesions, sex distribution, patient age, and tumor size were similar for both groups. Although the extent of vascular invasion was also similar, lymph node involvement was greater in the group with scar carcinoma. Five-year survival was far less in the scar carcinoma group (5%) than in the adenocarcinoma (22%) or adenosquamous cell carcinoma (28%) groups. The characteristics of scar carcinoma of the lung appear to be no different than those of similar cell types without scarring.     

Carcinosarcomas of the lung: a clinicopathologic study of 66 patients

Carcinosarcoma is a malignant tumor having a mixture of carcinoma and sarcoma containing differentiated mesenchymal elements, such as malignant cartilage, bone, and skeletal muscle. These tumors have been linked histogenetically to pleomorphic carcinomas; it is unclear whether their clinical behavior is significantly different. To investigate this issue, we studied 66 cases of carcinosarcomas of the lung and compared them with cases from a previously published series of pleomorphic carcinomas. Carcinosarcomas show a male-to-female ratio of 7.25:1, with a mean and median age of 65 years. They most often present as solitary masses in the upper lobes and average 7 cm in diameter. Most (62%) were endobronchial or central tumors, whereas 38% were described as peripheral. The most frequent epithelial component was squamous cell carcinoma (46%), followed by adenocarcinoma (31%) and adenosquamous carcinoma (19%), whereas sarcomatous elements most frequently included rhabdomyosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, osteosarcoma, or combinations of these elements. Survival of patients with carcinosarcomas of lung was poor, with a 5-year survival rate of 21.3%. Of several clinical and pathologic parameters, only increased tumor size (with 6 cm as the optimal cutoff point) appeared to be related to reduced survival (p = 0.0195). In comparison with patients with pleomorphic carcinoma, patients with carcinosarcomas had no significant difference in the size of their tumors (p = 1.0), stage at presentation (p = 0.883), location in the lung (p = 0.073), or their overall survival (21.3% vs 15.0%) (p = 0.1038). A significantly greater proportion of patients with carcinosarcoma had squamous cell (p = 0.004) or adenosquamous (p = 0.016) carcinoma, whereas patients who had pleomorphic carcinoma showed a significantly greater frequency of adenocarcinoma (p = 0.029) and large cell carcinoma. The histologic differences between these two types of tumor suggest that they may be different entities with similar behavior, but additional studies are warranted to investigate this hypothesis.     

Prognostic value of the histological subtype in completely resected non-small cell lung cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which includes several different histological subtypes, is usually treated by the same strategy. However, the biological behavior of each cell type appears to be different. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 1119 consecutive NSCLC patients who underwent a complete resection, in order to investigate whether a histological cell type is a powerful prognostic factor. The overall 5- and 10-year survivals of the patients with adenocarcinoma (AD), squamous cell carcinoma (SQ), large cell carcinoma (LA), and adenosquamous cell carcinoma (AS) were 54.2 and 40.2%, 51.6 and 30.3%, 40.9 and 18.7%, and 35.1 and 30.1%, respectively. The AD patients had a significantly better survival than the non-AD patients in Stage I (P=0.0004), whereas the SQ patients had a better survival than the non-SQ patients in Stage II (P=0.018). A multivariate survival analysis indicated the AD patients to have a significantly better survival than the SQ patients in Stage IA (P=0.04), while the SQ patients had a better survival than the AD patients in Stage II (P=0.03). These above observations suggest that the prognosis after complete resection is different between adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma in Stage IA and II.     

Surgical treatment of 48 primary peripheral, non-small cell lung cancers equal to or greater than 8 cm. Prognostic factors and 5 years' survival

In a series of 885 resections for lung carcinoma performed between 1976 and 1986, 48 (5.5%) were for large size tumors of 8 cm and over. Pneumonectomy was performed in 28 patients (58.3%), lobectomy in 17 (35.5%) and bilobectomy in 3 (6.2). Histological type of tumor was squamous cell in 27, adenocarcinoma in 9, large cell carcinoma in 10, and adenosquamous carcinoma in 2. The stage of the disease was stage I in 16 cases, stage II in 3 cases, and stage III in 29 cases. Total survival rate including perioperative mortality (3 deaths) was 30.5% at 3 years and 16.3% at 5 years. The best prognostic factors are: age under 60 (23% survival at 5 years, and no survival over 60, (p = 0.01), absence of weight loss (24% survival at 3 years, and 14% at 3 years in case of weight loss (p = 0.02), absence of symptoms (44% at 3 years) but no survival in case of symptoms (p = 0.02), no invasion of mediastinal lymph nodes (N0 and N1), and stage I and II of the disease (50% of survival at 3 years against 20% for stage III (p = 0.04). There was no relation to survival rate between T2 and T3, squamous and adenocarcinoma, and between lobectomy and pneumonectomy. Most of our patients died of post-operative metastasis (52%), related to the large size of the tumor.     

Postoperative recurrence of the patients with the stage I, II non small cell lung cancer

The study population consisted of 42 patients with squamous cell carcinoma and 46 patients with adenocarcinoma of stage I, 12 patients with squamous cell carcinoma and 7 patients with adenocarcinoma of stage II lung cancer who underwent curative surgical resection. Local recurrence and metastasis was not significant in both histological types in stage I, II. Lung and bone metastasis was dominant in the both cases of squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and brain metastasis in the cases of adenocarcinoma. Concerning the period to first recurrence following the operation, the recurrences of stage I squamous cell carcinoma occurred 28% within 1 year after surgery, 28% during 1-2 years after surgery and those of stage II squamous cell carcinoma occurred 11% within 1 year. On the other hand, the recurrences of stage I adenocarcinoma occurred 25% within 1 year, 31% during 1-2 years, 25% over 2 years after surgery and those of stage II adenocarcinoma occurred 13% within 1 year. In the cases with squamous cell carcinoma, the 5-year survival rate (56%) of stage I was not significant compared with those (59%) of stage II. On the other hand, in the adenocarcinoma, the 5-year survival rate (54%) of stage I was significantly better than those (29%) of stage II (p less than 0.05).     

Outcome of patients with early stage lung cancer

A study was conducted to evaluate the outcomes of 79 patients with early stage lung cancer diagnosed according to the following criteria. Central tumors were located in the segmental bronchi, or more proximally, and tumor invasion was limited to the bronchial wall without lymph node or distant metastases. Peripheral tumors were located distal to the subsegmental bronchi and were less than 2 cm in greatest dimension, and invasion was limited to the visceral pleura, with no lymph node or distant metastases. The 5-year survival rate was 100% for patients with peripheral type early squamous cell carcinoma, 94.6% for those with central-type early squamous cell carcinoma, and 79.3% for those with early adenocarcinoma. The 5-year survival rate for patients with central-type squamous cell carcinoma without pericartilage layer invasion was 97.0%, and that for those with T1N0M0 peripheral squamous cell carcinoma was 100.0%. To define early stage lung cancer as curable, it should be defined as T1N0M0, peripheral squamous cell carcinoma, or central squamous cell carcinoma without pericartilage layer invasion. For other histologic types, some added parameters are needed. The rate of multiple lung cancers was 10.1% and that of multiple primary malignant disease was 13.9%. Thus, careful followup of patients with early stage lung cancer should be carried out, as second malignancies in the lung and elsewhere are commonly detected.     

Prostate carcinoma with squamous differentiation: an analysis of 33 cases

BACKGROUND: Only sporadic cases of prostate carcinomas with squamous differentiation have been reported. DESIGN: The files of two institutions were reviewed for prostate cancers with squamous differentiation. RESULTS: A total of 33 cases were studied. The average age at diagnosis was 68 years (range 49-86 years). The most common presenting symptoms included bladder outlet obstruction and dysuria. Thirteen men had a positive digital rectal examination. Diagnosis was made by needle biopsy (n = 23); transurethral resection of the prostate (n = 5); needle and transurethral resection of the prostate (n = 1); transurethral resection of the bladder (n = 1); or biopsy of metastases (n = 3). In 21 of 33 cases, there was a prior diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the prostate; 8 patients were treated with hormones, 4 were treated with radiation, and 1 received both radiation and hormone therapy. Of the 12 men without a prior diagnosis of adenocarcinoma, 2 patients had received hormonal therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Eight of 33 cases were pure squamous carcinomas. The remaining cases were adenosquamous carcinoma (n = 16), adenosquamous and urothelial carcinoma (n = 3), and adenosquamous carcinoma and sarcoma (n = 6). The squamous carcinoma component of these mixed cases averaged 40% of the tumor volume (range 5%-95%) and had a range of cytologic atypia (mild [n = 6], moderate [n = 17], severe [n = 10]). In the 25 cases with adenocarcinoma, the glandular component tended to be high-grade (Gleason grade >6 in 19 cases). Immunohistochemistry for prostate specific acid phosphatase and prostate specific antigen was positive in a large percentage of the adenocarcinomas (85% and 75%, respectively) and only very focally positive in 12% of the squamous carcinomas. 34 beta E12 was diffusely positive in >95% of the squamous carcinomas and only focally positive in <10% of the adenocarcinomas. Cytokeratins 7 and 20 did not differentiate the squamous and adenocarcinoma components. Follow-up was available on 25 of 33 cases, with the average survival being 24 months (range 0-63 months). CONCLUSION: Squamous differentiation in prostate cancer is uncommon, often but not necessarily arising in the setting of prior hormone or radiation therapy, and is associated with a poor prognosis. In addition to pure squamous cell carcinoma and adenosquamous cancer, other patterns may be seen. Whereas the adenocarcinoma component is typically high grade, the squamous component has a wide range of differentiation.     

原发性胃腺鳞癌和胃鳞癌的临床病理特点分析

目的 探讨原发性胃腺鳞癌和胃鳞癌的临床病理特点.方法 回顾性分析12例原发性胃腺鳞癌和胃鳞癌的临床病理资料,对腺鳞癌进行CK17及CK18免疫组化染色.结果 本组原发性胃腺鳞癌和胃鳞癌病例占同期全部外科治疗胃癌病例的0.28%,其中原发性胃腺鳞癌10例,胃鳞癌2例;男10例,女2例;平均年龄65岁.主要临床症状有上腹隐痛或胀痛不适,呕血及黑便.术前胃镜活检确诊率为33%(4/12).肿瘤直径≤5 cm 3例,>5 cm 9例.根治性切除8例,姑息性切除4例.TNM分期Ⅰ期1例,Ⅲ期5例,Ⅳ期6例.本组术后2年内死于肿瘤转移复发10例,其中4例腺鳞癌姑息切除患者存活少于半年,且鳞癌和腺癌所占瘤体成分均在30%以上.术后3年死于其他疾病1例,术后5个月存活1例.结论 原发性胃腺鳞癌和胃鳞癌在临床上少见,具有独特的临床病理特点,腺鳞癌预后较差可能与其兼有腺癌和鳞癌两种恶性生物学行为有关.     

Adenosquamous carcinoma arising in Barrett''s esophagus

Primary adenocarcinoma of the esophagus is rare in Japan and, in most cases, arises from Barrett's esophagus epithelium. A 72-year-old man reporting heartburn and dysphagia and preoperatively diagnosed with adenosquamous carcinoma arising from Barrett's esophagus underwent thoracic esophagectomy and lymph node dissection in curative resection. Pathological diagnosis of the resected specimen showed adenosquamous carcinoma (coexistent adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) invasive to the submucosal layer; metastasis was found in regional lymph nodes. Pathological staging was pT1bN1M0, stage II. Unfortunately, the man died of liver and lung metastasis 17 months postoperatively. To our knowledge, this rare case is only the fifth reported in the English literature on adenosquamous carcinoma arising from Barrett's esophagus.     

Analyses of multiple primary lung cancers; recent trend]

We studied multiple primary lung cancers (MPLCs) in 921 patients who had undergone operation for primary lung cancer since March 1979 in Mie University Hospital. There were 14 synchronous and 5 metachronous MPLCs. Combination of synchronous MPLCs were adenocarcinoma (ADC)/ADC in 7, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)/SCC in 3, and ADC/adenosquamous cell carcinoma, ADC/small cell carcinoma, ADC/large cell carcinoma and multiple AAH in one. The incidence of synchronous MPLCs was 0.7% (6/815 pts) before May 1999 and 7.5% (8/106 pts) after June 1999 when HRCT was introduced for preoperative evaluation and postoperative follow-up. Six cases with multiple bronchioloalveolar carcinomas (BACs) have undergone operation for last 5 years. Most of them were roentgenographically occult and the operative outcome was good in spite of limited resection. In summary, we need new strategy of diagnosis and operative procedure for peripheral small adenocarcinoma, because multiple MPLCs of BAC are not rare.     

The significance of associated pre-invasive lesions in patients resected for primary lung neoplasms.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence and clinico/prognostic significance of the presence of pre-invasive lesions in patients resected for primary lung neoplasm. METHODS: From 1993 to 2002, 1090 patients received resection for primary lung carcinomas. Of these, 73 presented an associated pre-invasive lesion in the surgical specimen distant from the primary tumour. Classification of pre-invasive lesions included Atypical Adenomatous Hyperplasia (AAH); Carcinoma In Situ (CIS) either diffuse or at the bronchial resection margin; Diffuse Idiopathic Pulmonary Neuroendocrine Cell Hyperplasia (DIPNECH). Correlation between the presence of pre-invasive lesion and the following variables were calculated by logistic regression analysis: sex, age, median tumour size, histology, histologic differentiation, histologic evidence of invasiveness (vascular and perineural invasion), peritumoural lymphocytic infiltrate, pTNM, lobe location, history of previous malignancy. Survival rates were computed using Kaplan-Meier method and survival differences with the total patient population of resected lung carcinomas were tested using the log-rank method. RESULTS: There were 28 AAH, 42 CIS (5 at the bronchial resection margin) and 3 DIPNECH. Histology of the primary tumor included bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (9 patients), adenocarcinoma (19), squamous cell carcinoma (39), typical carcinoid tumour (3) and adenosquamous carcinoma (3). Overall prevalence of pre-invasive lesion was 6.7%. A strong correlation was found between the presence of AAH and the co-existence of either adenocarcinoma, bronchioloalveolar carcinoma or mixed adenocarcinoma-containing tumours (P = 0.00002) between CIS and squamous cell carcinoma (P = 0.009) and between DIPNECH and carcinoid tumours (P = 0.001). No significant correlation was found between the presence of any type of pre-invasive lesion and sex, age, median tumour size, histologic differentiation, histologic evidence of invasiveness, pTNM, lobe location and history of previous malignancy or the probability to develop a second primary lung carcinoma in the remaining lobe(s) after resection. Survival rates in the patients with AAH and CIS were not significantly different from those of patients without pre-invasive lesion (P = 0.3 and P = 0.1). CONCLUSIONS: Associated pre-invasive lesions in patients resected for primary lung neoplasms are not infrequent. AAH is associated with adenocarcinoma, CIS with squamous cell carcinoma, DIPNECH with typical carcinoid tumours. Our experience indicates that in these patients histology, stage distribution and survival do not differ from the total population of resected patients with lung tumors.     

Prognostic significance of E-cadherin and beta-catenin in resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: E-cadherin and its associated intracellular molecules, catenins, are important for cell-cell adhesion. Impaired expression of these molecules are frequently observed in several cancers. E-cadherin and beta-catenin are often expressed in non-small cell lung cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the expressions of E-cadherin and beta-catenin and their significance as prognostic markers in pathological stage I non-small cell lung cancer. METHODS: Paraffin embedded tumor tissue blocks were obtained from 141 patients who underwent resection without preoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy with pathological stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Tumor samples were prepared in tissue microarrays and they were stained by immunohistochemistry with antibodies against E-cadherin and beta-catenin. The expressions of E-cadherin and beta-catenin were analyzed with relation to the clinico-pathological data. The median follow-up period of the patients was 41 months (range, 2-88 months). RESULTS: Preserved expressions of E-cadherin and beta-catenin were observed in the membrane and the cytoplasm of normal epithelial cells and tumor cells. Absent or reduced expression for E-cadherin and beta-catenin were observed in 60% and 45% of all the patients, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between E-cadherin and beta-catenin expression (P<0.01). Absent or reduced expression of E-cadherin was observed in 72.5%, 36.6%, and 60.0% of squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, respectively. There was a significant decrease of E-cadherin expression in squamous cell carcinoma compared to adenocarcinoma (P<0.01). Patients with reduced expression of beta-catenin had poor recurrence free survival in adenocarcinoma, but not in squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Decreased expressions of E-cadherin and beta-catenin were closely correlated in resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Reduced expression of E-cadherin and beta-catenin indicates tumor cell dedifferentiation and reduced expression of beta-catenin had poor recurrence free survival in adenocarcinoma of the resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer.     

Prognostic significance of preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen level in lung adenocarcinoma but not squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Clinical significance of measurement of preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level in patients with non-small cell lung cancer was investigated. METHODS: Consecutive 271 adenocarcinoma and 112 squamous cell carcinoma patients of non-small cell lung cancer referred to our institute were included in this study. There were 214 men and 169 women, ages ranged from 19 to 90 years, with an average of 64.46 years. Curative resection was performed for 220 adenocarcinoma and 93 squamous cell carcinoma patients. Serum level of CEA was measured before staging or resection of cancer. RESULTS: There is a trend toward a correlation between serum CEA level and stage of the diseases, however, serum CEA level was not always related to tumor node metastasis (TNM) status. In patients with adenocarcinoma, survival rate of patients with an elevated serum CEA level was significantly lower than that with a normal serum CEA level. Multivariate analysis showed that prognostic significance of serum CEA level was TNM staging independent in patients with adenocarcinoma. On the other hand, serum CEA level was not related to patients' survival in patients with squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated preoperative serum CEA level is a TNM staging independent prognostic factor for patients with adenocarcinoma but not for those with squamous cell carcinoma.     

Adenosquamous carcinoma arising in Barrett's esophagus

Primary adenocarcinoma of the esophagus is rare in Japan and, in most cases, arises from Barrett's esophagus epithelium. A 72-year-old man reporting heartburn and dysphagia and preoperatively diagnosed with adenosquamous carcinoma arising from Barrett's esophagus underwent thoracic esophagectomy and lymph node dissection in curative resection. Pathological diagnosis of the resected specimen showed adenosquamous carcinoma (coexistent adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) invasive to the submucosal layer; metastasis was found in regional lymph nodes. Pathological staging was pT1bN1M0, stage II. Unfortunately, the man died of liver and lung metastasis 17 months postoperatively. To our knowledge, this rare case is only the fifth reported in the English literature on adenosquamous carcinoma arising from Barrett's esophagus.