Lymphoepithelioma-like esophageal carcinoma: report of a case

We herein report the rare case of a patient suffering from lymphoepithelioma-like poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. The patient was a 74-year-old woman in whom an esophageal tumor was found during an operation for thyroid cancer. After performing a subtotal thyroidectomy and cervical esophagectomy, esophageal reconstruction was performed using a free jejunal graft. Based on the results of the pathological examination, the esophageal tumor was diagnosed to be primary lymphoepithelioma-like esophageal cancer, not metastasis of either unknown nasopharyngeal cancer or thyroid cancer. Since surgery, she has survived postoperatively for more than 4 years with no evidence of recurrent disease.