CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Endosc Int Open 2022; 10(02): E200-E208
DOI: 10.1055/a-1675-2334
Original article

Long-term results of an endoscopic screening program for superficial esophageal cancer in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Renata Nobre Moura
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Yeda Kuboki
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Elisa Ryoka Baba
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Adriana Safatle-Ribeiro
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Bruno Martins
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Gustavo Andrade de Paulo
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Luciano Lenz Tolentino
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Marcelo Simas de Lima
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Marco Aurelio Kulcsar
2   Discipline of Head and Neck Surgery, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Rubens Antonio Aissar Sallum
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Ulysses Ribeiro Jr.
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Fauze Maluf-Filho
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto do Cancer (ICESP), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
3   Laboratorio de Investigacao Medica, LIM-37, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Background and study aims Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are at risk of a second primary tumor in the gastrointestinal tract, most commonly in the esophagus. Screening these patients for esophageal carcinoma may help detect asymptomatic dysplasia and early cancer, thus allowing curative treatment and more prolonged survival, but the impact of endoscopic screening remains uncertain. Here we aimed to describe the long-term results of an esophageal SCC screening program in patients with head and neck cancer in terms of prevalence, associated risk factors, and survival.

Patients and methods We performed an observational study of a prospectively collected database including patients with HNSCC who had undergone high-definition endoscopy with chromoscopy between 2010 and 2018 at a Brazilian tertiary academic center.

Results The study included 1,888 patients. The esophageal SCC prevalence was 7.9 %, with the majority (77.8 %) being superficial lesions. Significant risk factors for esophageal high-grade dysplasia (HGD) and invasive cancer included tumors of the oral cavity and oropharynx and the presence of low-grade dysplasia (LGD). Overall survival (OS) was significantly shorter among patients in whom esophageal cancer was diagnosed at an advanced stage (P < .001). OS did not significantly differ between patients with HGD and early esophageal cancer versus those without esophageal cancer (P = .210)

Conclusions Endoscopic screening for superficial esophageal neoplasia in patients with HNSCC improves esophageal cancer detection. Screening could potentially benefit patients with primary cancer located at the oropharynx or oral cavity. In addition, the detection of esophageal LGD indicates a need for endoscopic surveillance.



Publication History

Received: 08 July 2021

Accepted: 07 October 2021

Article published online:
15 February 2022

© 2022. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 
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