Clinical characteristics of multiple primary cancer associated with esophageal squamous carcinoma

Abstract

To examine the characteristics of esophageal squamous cancers with multiple primary cancers in another organ. Between January 2012 and December 2014, 3 104 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated in Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, were reviewed for the presence of an additional primary cancer retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether they had multiple primary cancer. Totally 369 (11.9%) patients were found multiple primary cancer in the other organs. Among these patients, 72.4% was found synchronously, another primary cancer was found in the head and neck region in 211 (6.8%), in the stomach in 140 (4.2%), and in the lung, colon, breast, and other locations in the remaining patients. Of the 211 patients with another primary cancer in the head and neck region, 156 (73.2%) had hypopharyngeal cancer. Furthermore, the incidence of intraesophageal multiple cancerous lesion in the patients with primary cancer in the head and neck region was significantly higher than that in those whose other primary cancers were gastric cancer or in those with non-multiple primary cancer (P<0.01). There is a high incidence of multiple primary cancers in patients with esophageal squamous carcinoma, mostly found synchronously. The leading multiple primary cancers were head and neck cancer and stomach cancer. Intraesophageal multiple cancerous lesion is an indicator for a second primary cancer in head and neck. A better knowledge of the relationships between esophageal carcinoma and cancers in other organs may lead to earlier detection of other primary cancers and improved therapeutic results.