TWO CASES OF CANCER OF THE CERVICAL ESOPHAGUS ASSOCIATING WITH A THYROID CANCER

Abstract

Recent experience with 2 cases of cancer of the cervical esophagus associating with a thyroid cancer is described.
Both 2 cases were middle-aged women having an esophageal cancer in stage IV. They had synchronous double cancer, but one noticed a tumor in the anterior region of neck from 6 years before, whose esophageal cancer appeared to be preceded by thyroid cancer for several years.
Double cancer of the esophagus and thyroid is uncommon. When 10 such cases reported minutely including this case were reviewed, there were 7 cases of synchronous and 3 cases of heterochronous double cancer. The male-to-female ratio was 3:7, with an average age of 61.7 years. Most cases had stage IV cancers, leading to poor prognosis. All 3 cases of heterochronous duoble cancer had thyroid cancer as the first cancer, with a time interval to occurrence of esophageal cancer being about 6 years. Two of the 3 cases were of cancer of the cervical esophagus. Moreover, all 3 cases had received radiation therapy in the treatment of thyroid cancer. This fact as well as that in this case which had been irradiated for lymph node tuberculosis suggestes a possibility of radiation caused carcinoma.