Abstract
A 61-year-old woman developed esophageal cancer that was detected during a periodic health examination. Esophagography and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a 6-cm, 0-IIc lesion in the lower thoracic esophagus. The patient underwent esophagectomy via a right thoracotomy with gastric tube reconstruction and three-field lymph node dissection. Macroscopically, the resected specimen was a reddish and slightly depressed 0-IIc-type lesion, 60 mm in size. On histology, the esophageal cancer was found to have invaded into the deeper layer of the submucosa (SM2). At the site of invasion, the adenocarcinoma cells were shown to be mucus-positive by staining with periodic acid-Schiff-alcian blue. Adjacent to the site of invasion, an intraepithelial squamous cell carcinoma was also observed. This tumor was diagnosed as an esophageal mucoepidermoid cancer (pT1b (SM2), pN2, pStageII). This tumor was thought to have a squamous cell origin, because of the presence of the intraepithelial squamous cell carcinoma.
