Adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction.

Abstract

To date, there has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of adenocarcinomas of the esophagogastric junction (AEG) worldwide. The classification of AEG, defined by Siewert and Stein, was approved at the second International Gastric Cancer Congress in Munich in April 1997. In accordance with the anatomic cardia, EGJC can be divided into three subtypes: type I, adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus with the center located within 1 cm above and 5 cm above the anatomic esophagogastric junction (EGJ); type II, true carcinoma of the cardia with the tumor center within 1 cm above and 2 cm below the EGJ; type III, subcardial carcinoma with the tumor center between 2 and 5 cm below EGJ, which infiltrates the EGJ and distal esophagus from below (1). In the Siewert classification, type I was usually classified with the esophageal scheme, and types II and III were classified with the gastric carcinoma scheme (2-4). Compared to the Western countries, type II and III cancers are more frequent than type I in Eastern countries (5).