A Case of Esophageal Carcinoma Appeared 8 Years after Surgical Treatment for Achalasia

Hajime Yonekawa, Takashi Bessho, Hisashi Shinohara, Hiroaki Kurihara, Hidetane Ohnishi

Department of Surgery, National Ohkura Hospital

A case of esophageal carcinoma after successful surgical treatment for achalasia is presented. The patient was a 50-year-old housewife who had suffered from esophageal achalasia since 1975. Because conservative treatments had not been effective, she had Petrovsky's operation in 1982. The diameter of the esophagus decreased from 5.8 cm before surgery to 3.0 cm after the operation. She was discharged from the hospital without symptoms, and had not come to the hospital thereafter. She received a screening upper gastrointestinal barium examination in 1987, at which time the diameter of the esophagus was normal and no abnormal findings were seen. In 1990, she was admitted to our hospital again because of increasing dysphagia. Esophagography revealed an ulcerative type carcinoma in the upper third of the esophagus. Tracheal invasion was found, and palliative esophagectomy was performed. The tumor was the ulcerative and infiltrative type, and the pathological diagnosis was well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. She received radiotherapy of 50 Gy after surgery, and survived for 16 months.

Key words
carcinoma of the esophagus, achalasia of the esophagus, surgical treatment for achalasia

Reprint requests
Hajime Yonekawa Department of Surgery, National Ohkura Hospital
2-10-1 Ohkura, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 157 JAPAN

Accepted
September 9, 1992

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