Verrucous carcinoma of the esophagus: a case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: Verrucous carcinoma is an extremely rare form of cancer in the esophagus. CASE PRESENTATION: A 56-year-old woman presented with dysphagia in 2007. Endoscopic examination revealed an irregular protruding circumferential erosion in the lower thoracic esophagus, but because pathological examination of the biopsy specimen showed no evidence of malignancy, the status of the erosion was followed up by an upper gastrointestinal endoscopic examination every 3 months. A year later, polypoid lesions and fungal infection were observed in the eroded area, but no evidence of malignancy was detected in the biopsy specimen at the time. Eighteen months later, the polypoid lesions had increased in size, and the biopsy specimen was diagnosed as highly suspicious of well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Because the patient’s condition deteriorated due to worsening of the dysphagia and weight loss, we performed a thoracoscopic esophagectomy with lymph node dissection and reconstructed the alimentary tract with a gastric tube via the posterior mediastinal route. Macroscopic examination of the resected specimen showed a white protruding lesion with an irregular surface, and histopathological examination led to a diagnosis of esophageal verrucous carcinoma without lymph node metastasis. No signs of recurrence have been observed in the 8 years since surgery. CONCLUSION: We have reported a long-term follow-up case of verrucous carcinoma of the esophagus that was difficult to diagnose before surgery.