Carcinomas of the esophagus and the cardia in young patients

The clinicopathologic features of carcinomas of the esophagus and the cardia in young patients were reviewed in a study of 1302 consecutively treated patients. The patients were divided into two groups, with group I aged under 40 years and group II over 40 years. There were no significant differences between the two groups with regard to sex ratio, duration of the principal symptoms, and 5-year and 10-year survivals. The main clinicopathologic difference between the young patients and the older ones was that the carcinomas in young patients were more likely to invade the surrounding tissues. Local lymph node metastases and microscopic residual tumor at the line of resection were also more prevalent in the young patients, but not to a statistically significant degree. These findings suggested that the clinical and pathologic features of carcinomas of the esophagus and the cardia in young patients were not significantly different from those in older patients.