Objective: To summarize the surgical outcome of patients with small cell esophageal carcinoma(SCEC).
Methods: Clinical data of patients with esophageal carcinoma were retrospectively collected from March 2000 to March 2011 at the Thoracic Surgery Department of the Peking University Cancer Hospital. Data included tumor characteristics, staging, treatment, response, short-term outcome, and long-term survival.
Results: A total of 546 patients with esophageal carcinoma were identified, among whom there were 15 patients with SCEC(2.7%). Fourteen cases received multimodality treatment based on operation and one underwent operation alone. Four patients had preoperative chemotherapy and 10 had postoperative chemotherapy. Four patients had postoperative radiation. After excluding one case of postoperative death within 3 months, the median overall survival was 14.3 months(range, 4 to 99 months), significantly worse than those with non-SCEC(42.2 months, P<0.05).
Conclusion: SCEC is rare and the outcomes are poor. It should be considered as a systematic disease.