Abstract
This case, a 72-year-old male, visited our hospital with the chief complaint of dysphagia, and the x-ray examination by barium indicated an abnormal shadow in his oesophagus. He was diagnosed as having oesophageal carcinoma and underwent subtotal oesophageal resection by trans-thoraco-laparotomy and oesophago-gastric anastomosis at the retrosternal left cervical region. According to macroscopical findings of the resected specimen, there was a well-definde, protrudes and nearly globular tumor 3.0×3.6×1.0cm in size. Histologically, the tumor was expansive type and mainly composed of undifferentiated carcinoma of the oesophagus with the depth of cancer invasion limited to the tela submucosa and partly of oat cell carcinoma (small cell carcinoma) . According to the statistics, the incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma is 2.3%, and that of undifferentiated carcinoma like this case is as very low as 1.7%. The prognosis of patients with undifferentiated carcinoma of the oesophagus is usually very poor. However, since carcinoma of this case was found at the superficial carcinoma (early carcinoma of the oesophagus), better prognosis will be obtained.
