Histopathological study of resected esophageal cancers between with and without preoperative radiation therapy

A histopathological study was performed on 53 radiated and 123 non-radiated resected esophageal cancers. The preoperatively radiated (3,000 to 4,000 rads) lesions were usually smaller than the non-treated ones due to the reduction in tumor tissue, and the incidence of infiltrative ulcerated type lesions (Borrmann 3-like) was markedly higher in the former. Histologically, the incidence of moderately-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was lower and that of well-differentiated SCC was higher in the radiated cases, probably due to the high sensitivity of the former type compared with the latter. The incidence of vascular involvement was lower in the radiated cases than the non-treated cases because of the reduction in vessel size due to fibrosis and scar caused by radiation. However, lymph node metastasis was more frequent in the radiated cases in which the more deeply invaded lesions were included compared with the non-treated cases. (author)