1990 Volume 51 Issue 7 Pages 1479-1485
Esophageal tuberculosis rarely occurs, with only a few reported cases to date. Here, we present two cases of esophageal tuberculosis and discuss the diagnostic procedure to ensure favourable prognosis. Case 1 underwent bypass operation under a false diagnosis of esophageal cancer and died 5 months after surgery. Following a similar X-ray and endoscopic tentative diagnosis of esophageal cancer. Case 2 gave a cancernegative endoscopic biopsy result and underwent supraclavicular lymph node biopsy which led to the discovery and confirmation of esophageal tuberculosis. Appropriate antituberculotics were administered promptly and no surgical operation was performed. Case 2 showed a favourable prognosis. The discrimination between esophageal tuberculosis and cancer is considerably difficult by image diagnosis, and since it is important urgently to administer some appropriate antituberculotics in the event of esophageal tuberculosis, supraclavicular lymph node biopsy is strongly recommended when any cancer cells can not be detected by endscopic biopsy or other histological examinations. This approach might avoid unncessary surgical invasion such as esophagectomy.
