Examination of the Depth of Cancer Invasion in Superficial Esophageal Cancer by Additional Sections

Shoji Natsugoe, Mitsuhisa Sagara, Yoshihisa Tezuka, Kazunobu Tokuda, Daisuke Wakamatsu, Michiyo Asatani, Toru Kumanohoso, Mario Shimada, Kazusada Shirao, Chikara Kusano, Heiji Yoshinaka, Masamichi Baba, Toshitaka Fukumoto, Takashi Aikou

First Department of Surgery, Kagoshima University School of Medicine

To evaluate more precisely the depth of cancer invasion in patients with superficial esophageal cancer, additional sections were made from the 71 primary tumors, for detailed examination. The mucosal and submucosal layer were subclassified as ep, mm₁, mm₂, mm₃, sm₁, sm₂, and sm₃, according to the depth of cancer invasion. As result of detailed histologic examination, the depth of cancer invasion changed from ep to mm₁ in three of six tumors, from mm₁, to mm₂ in one of five tumors, from mm₃, to sm₁ in one of six tumors, from sm₂, to sm₃ in five of 18 tumors, and from sm₃ to pm in one of 14 tumors. The overall incidence of change in depth of cancer invasion was 15.5%, (11/71) . The macroscopic type of these tumors was type O-IIb in ep carcinoma, type O-IIc in mm carcinoma, and type O-I in sm carcinoma. We considered that one important question stemming from this study was whether the deepest section of cancer invasion was taken from the resected specimen. No lymphatic or vessel invasion was newly found in these cases. In this study, the change of depth of cancer invasion was not affected by the treatment. Accordingly, we consider that the depth of cancer invasion may need to be examined by additional sections at least for tumors in which a discrepancy between the macroscopic finding and histologic diagnosis arises.

Key words
superficial esophageal cancer, depth of depth of cancer invasion, additional section

Reprint requests
Shoji Natsugoe First Department of Surgery, Kagoshima University School of Medicine
8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890 JAPAN

Accepted
December 7, 1994

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