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Updated: Sep 29, 2025

Development of Compendium for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: April 12, 2024
The Relationship Between Achalasia and Esophageal Cancer: The Experience of a Tertiary Center
Ömer Öztürk1, Mustafa Kaplan2, İlyas Tenlik1
1Gastroenterology Clinic, Ankara Bilkent City Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Objective:
We examined the prevalence of esophageal cancer in 828 patients diagnosed with achalasia and the characteristics of patients who developed esophageal cancer.
Material And Methods:
The demographic characteristics and medical records of the patients who were followed up with a diagnosis of achalasia between 1995 and 2019 were investigated from the patient files.
Results:
The mean age of the patients was 51 ± 17.3, 390 of them were males (47.1%) and 438 were females (52.9%). The mean diagnosis age of the patients was 45.4 years. The median follow-up duration of the patients was 73 months (12-480). Esophageal cancer developed in 5 patients (0.6%) during follow-up. Three of these 5 patients had squamous cell carcinoma (60%) and 2 had adenocarcinoma (40%). Three of these patients were males (60%) and 2 were females (40%). The mean age of the patients was 68 (56-78), and cancer developed after a median of 156 months (24-216) after the achalasia diagnosis. Balloon dilation therapy was performed for the treatment of achalasia in all 5 patients who developed esophageal cancer.
Conclusion:
Achalasia patients have an increased risk of developing esophageal cancer compared to the general population, and patients should be followed closely for cancer development.
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