KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of SmCC of the esophagus.
- Researchers noticed the need for collaborative studies to develop definitive management strategies for this rare esophageal cancer variant.
Esophageal cancer is quite prevalent worldwide and usually carries a poor prognosis. Histologically, although squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma predominate, small cell carcinoma (SmCC) cases have been reported. Overall, there is a lack of literature regarding this variant.
Kenro Hirata and the team aimed to assess the clinical characteristics, treatment outcomes, and survival rates of patients with SmCC, contributing valuable insights into the management of this rare histological variant.
Researchers performed an inclusive analysis of patient records with SmCC histology from 2010 to 2020. Patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics, treatments received, and outcomes were evaluated. Results were analyzed statistically using SPSS version 22.
About 14 patients (9 males and 5 females) with a median age of 57 years (range: 35 – 72 years) were analyzed. The majority of patients, 10/14 (71.4%), received palliative radiotherapy of either 30Gy/10 fractions or 35Gy/15 fractions. Only 1/14 (7.14%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT). Overall, a partial response was noted in all 11 patients (78.6%) who received treatment. The average median survival was 5 months (range: 1-11 months).
The study concluded that although the small sample size prevents drawing firm conclusions, national and international collaborative prospective studies are needed to develop definitive oncologic management strategies for this rare histological variant of esophageal cancer.
No funding information was given.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39023598/
Kumar D, Dey T, Sekar A, et al. (2024). “Small cell carcinoma esophagus-A tertiary cancer center experience of a rare variant.” J Cancer Res Ther. 2024 Apr 1;20(3):918-921. doi: 10.4103/jcrt.jcrt_1938_23. Epub 2024 Jun 27. PMID: 39023598.
