The Relationship Between Achalasia and Esophageal Cancer: The Experience of a Tertiary Center

Abstract

We examined the prevalence of esophageal cancer in 828 patients diagnosed with achalasia and the characteristics of patients who developed esophageal cancer. The demographic characteristics and medical records of the patients who were followed up with a diagnosis of achalasia between 1995 and 2019 were investigated from the patient files. The mean age of the patients was 51 ± 17.3, 390 of them were males (47.1%) and 438 were females (52.9%). The mean diagnosis age of the patients was 45.4 years. The median follow-up duration of the patients was 73 months (12-480). Esophageal cancer developed in 5 patients (0.6%) during follow-up. Three of these 5 patients had squamous cell carcinoma (60%) and 2 had adenocarcinoma (40%). Three of these patients were males (60%) and 2 were females (40%). The mean age of the patients was 68 (56-78), and cancer developed after a median of 156 months (24-216) after the achalasia diagnosis. Balloon dilation therapy was performed for the treatment of achalasia in all 5 patients who developed esophageal cancer. Achalasia patients have an increased risk of developing esophageal cancer compared to the general population, and patients should be followed closely for cancer development.