1992 Volume 34 Issue 3 Pages 561-569
In a 72-year-old man synchronously developed cancers were found in the middle esophagus and in the lower corpus. The esophageal and gastric lesions were diagnosed as to be Ia and IIc types of early cancer, respectively, on X-ray and endoscopic pictures. Histological study revealed squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, respectively, on biopsy specimens. Because of associated severe lung emphysema, endoscopic laser irradia-tion to the lesions was performed twice for eight day-interval. With total laser irradiation to the esophageal cancer of 300 and 762 joule (J) using a contact and non-contact laser probe and to the gastric cancer of 550 J and 3144 J using a contact and non-contact probes, respectively, cancer cells disappeared completely on biopsy study. Throughout the follow-up period for about one and a half years until he died of heart failure due to the lung disease, no cancer cells were found on repeated biopsy studies of both lesions. Cancer cells were also not found in esophageal and gastric tissue specimens obtained by autopsy. The cases of synchronously developed early esophageal and gastric cancers had been rarely reported. In addition, our case suggests the effectiveness of laser therapy to such lesions in patients who have no surgical indication due to severe complications.
