Histopathological Assessment for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Histological assessment of esophageal squamous malignancies is crucial for management of patients with the cancer as well as working in research on the cancer. The squamous malignancies in the esophagus comprise squamous dysplasia and squamous cell carcinoma. Current classification of squamous dysplasia in the esophagus is to divide it into low grade and high grade. Most of the esophageal squamous cell carcinomas are of conventional type and divided into well, moderately, and poorly differentiated. The variants of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma include basaloid squamous carcinoma, spindle cell carcinoma, and verrucous carcinoma. Preoperative chemoradiation is used commonly in the treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and induces changes in morphology. Tumor regression grading systems based on the percentage of the remaining carcinoma cells are used to assess the response to the neoadjuvant therapy in the cancer. Additional histological parameters including lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, clearance of resection margins, and carcinoma in the nodal and distant metastatic sites provide essential information for the management of the patient with the cancer.