A case of long-term survival after pulmonary resection for metachronous pulmonary metastasis of basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

INTRODUCTION: Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (BSCE) is a rare malignancy among esophageal cancers. We reported a case of 63-year-old woman with metachronous pulmonary metastasis of BSCE, successfully treated by metastasectomy of the left lung. PRESENTATION OF CASE: Biopsy specimens of upper gastrointestinal fiberscopy led to diagnosis of poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Computed tomography revealed metastatic lymph nodes surrounding the bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve and no evidence of metastasis to distant organs. Curative esophagectomy with three-field lymph node dissection was performed through thoracoscopic approach. Pathological examination of the resected specimens led to diagnosis of BSCE with invasion into the submucosal layer of the esophageal wall. Two years later, a solitary oval-shaped pulmonary lesion of approximately 10mm was detected in the left lung. Wedge resection of the left upper lobe was performed via thoracoscopic approach. The postoperative course was uneventful. Histologically, the pulmonary lesion was diagnosed as metastatic BSCE. Follow-up indicated no recurrence 9 years after the initial surgery. DISCUSSION: Surgical intervention was acceptable on this case of solitary pulmonary metastasis. However, data are lacking about the efficacy of pulmonary resection for metachronous pulmonary metastasis of BSCE because the postoperative outcome is usually poor. The efficacy of surgical intervention for metastatic lesions of BSCE is debatable and requires further examination.
CONCLUSION: Although the usefulness of surgical intervention for metastatic lesions from BSCE is controversial, the patients with metachronous solitary metastasis to the lung and without extrapulmonary metastasis would be good candidate for pulmonary resection.