A Case of Adenosquamous Carcinoma of the Esophagus with a Lymph Node Metastasis of Adenocarcinoma Component

Abstract

We report an extremely rare case of adenosquamous carcinoma with lymph node metastasis involving an adenocarcinoma component. A 62-year-old man admitted for chest pain was found in esophagoscopy to have an elevated lesion in the middle thoracic esophagus diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma, necessitating transthoracoabdominal subtotal esophagectomy with 2-field lymph node dissection. Gastric pullup was made intrathoracically. The postoperative course was uneventful and he remains alive without carcinoma recurrence in the 13 months since surgery. Histologically, the tumor consisted of squamous cell carcinoma components in 80% of the mass and adenocarcinoma components in 20% with lymph node metastasis from the latter. Pathological diagnosis and staging was adenosquamous carcinoma of pT1bN2M0 and pStage II. Esophageal adenosquamous carcinoma involved lymph nodes in several cases, but many consisted of squamous cell carcinoma tumor components.