"Barrett's esophagus" adenocarcinoma: a case report.

A case of signet ring cell carcinoma of the lower thoracic esophagus of Barrett type without association of hiatus hernia is reported. The patient is doing well more than five years after esophagectomy combined with esophagogastrostomy. On the base of histological findings of the operative material, this tumor appears to have originated from the gastric type of mucosa with parietal cells, accessory cells and chief cells as it is lining the segment of the esophagus directly distal to the tumor. The basic anomaly in this case is believed to be misdifferentiation of the embryonic columnar epithelium to a gastric fundic type instead of a normal squamous type.