[Adenocarcinoma in Barrett's esophagus. A study of 28 resected cases]

The aim of this retrospective study was to report a series of 28 patients with adenocarcinoma (ADK) arising in Barrett's esophagus (BE), treated by esophagectomy.

From 1992 to 1998, 28 patients were operated on for ADK in BE. There were 27 men and one woman (mean age: 65 years) classified as ASA I (n = 2), ASA II (n = 15) and ASA III (n = 11). Eighteen patients had a long story of gastro-esophageal reflux disease which required surgical repair in five of them. Dysphagia was the main symptom (n = 19). Surgical procedures included 15 Ivor Lewis operations, nine esophagectomies without thoracotomy and four esophagogastrectomies by the left thoracic approach.

Pathological examination of the specimens showed an EBO with adenocarcinoma (n = 27) and a high grade dysplasia (n = 1). Among five patients with a previously known BE, three under endoscopic surveillance had high grade dysplasia (n = 1) and limited T1 tumor (n = 2), while the other two patients without surveillance developed an invasive tumor (T3N1). There were three postoperative deaths (mortality rate: 10%), all arising from pulmonary failure. Median survival was 16.6 months. All patients resumed a normal diet. The actuarial survival rates were 63%, 42% and 15.2% respectively at 1, 2 and 4 years. A multivariate analysis could identify 3 prognostic factors: ASA score previously known BE under surveillance, length of BE.

Adenocarcinoma arising in BE is very often diagnosed too late. Patients with high risk BE require an endoscopic survey. High grade dysplasia detected in two successive examinations by two different pathologists may require prophylactic esophagectomy, but local endoscopic management presently under evaluation could be efficient in the future.