Are patients who have had a tracheoesophageal fistula repair during infancy at risk for esophageal adenocarcinoma during adulthood?

The authors present a case of a 46-year-old woman who had esophageal adenocarcinoma after having had a tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) repair as an infant. A Medline search, which identified 2 other patients in the world literature who developed esophageal cancer (squamous cell carcinoma [J Pediatr Surg 36(4) (2001) 629-630] and adenocarcinoma [J Pediatr Surg 24(8) (1989) 741-744]) after TEF repair, was performed. As such patients reach middle age, it is possible that they are at increased risk for the development of esophageal cancer. Practitioners should be aware of the possibility of increased risk in this population and perhaps the need for a study to screen patients who have had a TEF repair to assess the incidence of cancer.