Cancer of the esophagus (I): its epidemiological, clinical and diagnostic assessment according to histological type]

From 1975 to 1991, sixty-eight patients were treated with surgery for esophageal cancer at the Clínica Universitaria de Navarra. This study involves an analysis of epidemiologic and predisposing risk factors in relation with the histologic type of tumor: epidermoid carcinoma vs. adenocarcinoma. The difference in mean age of males (60.5 yrs.) as compared with that of females (48.7 yrs.) was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Likewise, the mean age of patients with epidermoid carcinoma (57.8 yrs.) was significant lower (p < 0.01) as compared with that of those with adenocarcinoma (66.3 yrs.). Smoking and alcoholism were common in the group of patients with epidermoid carcinoma, while Barrett's esophagus and hiatal hernia were frequently seen in patients with adenocarcinoma. Dysphagia was the most frequent symptom both at the start of disease (75%) and with the diagnosis established (96.7%). There was no significant difference in the symptomatology of patients with one type of tumor or the other. The efficacy of ancillary diagnostic procedures such as barium swallow, esophagoscopy, computerized tomography and biopsy were likewise assessed. The most frequent site of tumor was at the middle third, with majority of patients being at clinical stage 1-2 of disease at the time of diagnosis.