Effective treatment with chemotherapy and surgery for advanced small cell carcinoma of the esophagus

A 78-year-old man reported a persistent midthoracic pain, mild dysphagia, and an abdominal distention. An abdominal computed tomography scan showed massive ascites, extensive paracardial mass, a large mass which invaded the pancreas, and a mass of multiple para-aortic lymphadenopathies which involved the superior mesenteric artery. An upper gastrointestinal endoscopic study revealed an infiltrative, ulcerating tumor of the lower esophagus. Histological study of the biopsy specimens from esophageal tumor showed small cell carcinoma. After combination chemotherapy, an abdominal computed tomography scan showed a disappearance of asites, a partial response reduction of paragastric mass, peripancreatic mass and para-aortic lymphadenopathies. Histological study of the biopsy specimens from esophageal tumor showed a viable small cell carcinoma. In June 2001, the patient underwent lower esophagectomy and proximal gastrectomy combined with splenectomy and distal pancreatectomy through an abdominal approach. Histological findings of the resected specimen showed that the esophageal tumor was a small cell carcinoma which invaded into the submucosal layer, and both paracardial and peripancreatic tumors, and all lymph nodes had no cancer cells. The patient's postoperative recovery was uneventful and discharged without aggressive chemotherapy postoperatively. However, he eventually died of progression of the metastasis 21 months after first detection of the carcinoma. Patients with esophageal small cell carcinoma treated with surgery following chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy have been reported to survive longer than those treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Therefore, surgical resection may be recommended as the second therapy that occasionally produces long-term remission and possibly long-term survival for patients with small cell carcinoma of the esophagus.