Endoscopic diagnosis of 115 cases of early esophageal carcinoma

Mass surveys of a population of 28,139 people in high-risk areas for esophageal carcinoma in Henan Province were carried out using the methods of esophageal exfoliative cytology, reontgenology and fiberendoscopy, between January 1978 and May 1981. 115 cases of early esophageal cancer comprising 64 males and 51 females were found. This paper reports on the results of the fiberendoscopic examination of these 115 cases of early esophageal carcinoma followed-up at regular intervals. On the basis of clinical, laboratory, and endoscopic findings, esophageal carcinoma of early stage can be divided into four types including the congestive type, erosive type, plaque-like type and polypoid type. All results were obtained on the basis of a follow-up observation period of 19-42 months. It was shown that the evolution of esophageal cancer in situ to an advanced cancer probably takes 3-4 years. Therefore, esophageal carcinoma could be reasonably considered to be a chronic disease of relatively slow growth. In order to make complete cure of such a "poor-prognosis" disease possible, early diagnosis established in good time using all the methods mentioned, is essential.