Systematic esophageal endoscopy screening in patients previously treated for head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma

An attempt was made to improve metachronous oesophageal cancer prognosis through bi-annual systematic esophageal endoscopy screening in patients treated for head and neck cancer.

Bi-annual esophageal endoscopy, without a staining procedure, was performed in 1560 patients from 1987 to 1997. The distribution of previous head and neck cancer was oral cavity (20%), oropharynx (30%), hypopharynx (34%), and larynx (16%). All patients had initial panendoscopic inspection before HNSCC treatment. Esophageal tumors were considered to be second synchronous primaries when discovered within the first six months of initial tumor diagnosis.

Fifty metachronous esophageal asymptomatic cancers (42 T1 and 7 in situ carcinomas) were diagnosed by endoscopy. The median time between the HNC and the esophageal carcinoma was 43 months (7-137 months). Metachronous esophageal carcinoma was discovered in 2.6% of patients with oral cavity tumor, 5.7% of patients with oropharynx tumor, 2.3% of patients with hypopharynx tumor, and 1.7% of patients with larynx tumor. Causes of death were: 41.1% related to esophageal tumor with tumor progression, metastatic evolution, or treatment toxicity; 28.9% related to non malignant causes; 26.6% related to a cancer that was not of esophageal origin.

Over a 10-year period, systematic bi-annual esophageal endoscopy uncovered metachronous esophageal tumors in 3.2% of 1560 patients originally treated for head and neck carcinoma, developing in a median time of 47 months. Patients with initial oropharyngeal tumors had a significantly higher risk of metachronous esophageal SCC, compared to the other tumor sites (P < 0.02 with Fisher exact test). Given the elevated death rate not related to the esophageal cancer and the median survival of 16 months, any potential benefit from this time-consuming procedure is debatable.