Ten-year survivors after surgical treatment and perioperative irradiation for esophageal carcinoma.

Ten of 150 patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and surgically treated, survived for more than 10 years. All 10 underwent a complete resection of the primary tumor and extensive lymph node dissection plus perioperative irradiation. The clinicopathologic findings in these 10 patients were reviewed. Five were female. Seven of the tumors exceeded 6 cm in length; seven were early stage, and the remaining three were advanced stage tumors. Lymph node metastases were evident in three, lymph vessel permeation was recognized in four, and no vascular vessel permeation was seen in any tumor. Two tumors had a characteristic appearance of carcinoma with lymphoid stroma, suggesting a good prognosis. In six for which cytophotometric DNA analysis could be done, four were type II, two were type III, and none was type IV. Thus, a complete resection of the primary tumor and extensive lymph node dissection can lead to a long survival time even for those with an advanced primary esophageal carcinoma.