Primary mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the esophagus-A case report

Abstract

A 67-year-old Japanese female with a mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the esophagus is described. Morphological examination was made: the result being that the carcinoma showed a slightly protruded and sclerosing gross appearance. Histologically, the carcinoma contained squamous, adenocarcinomatous and intermediate cells in tumor nests. Imprint cytology demonstrated that many carcinoma cells occurred in sheets and clusters against a necrotic background. They were observed to consist of squamous cells with occasional keratinization, some udenocarcinomatous cells which tested positive for mucin and/or intracellular microcysts, and some intermediate cells having features similar to those of squamous cytoplasm including adenocarcinomatous nuclei. Electron microscopy showed an intracellular microcyst and bundles of tonofilaments in the tumor cell, and these findings suggest that the cell may possess soine characteristics of both squamous and glandular tissues: Immunohistochemical studies resulted in a positive reaction to carcinoembryonic antigen staining, and negative reactions to both secretory component and lactoferrin stainings. The cytological findings mentioned. above suggest the esophageal carcinoma may be a mucoepidermoid carcinoma, even though this is very rare.