Comparison of 4 cases of esophageal basaloid squamous carcinoma treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and 21 cases treated without adjuvant chemotherapy: A clinicopathological study

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSC) of the esophagus forms nests mainly in the submucosal layer, and is covered with normal epithelium or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). If esophageal tumor is diagnosed as BSC from a preoperative biopsy, the patients generally receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. On the other hand, there have been a few reports indicating that preoperative treatment is effective for BSC. Purpose: In 25 cases in which the majority of tumors is BSC, we analyzed the morphological changes and compared the prognosis of patients receiving or not receiving preoperative treatment. Methods: We clinicopathologically reviewed 21 patients who underwent esophagectomy only and 4 patients who preoperatively received adjuvant therapy followed by surgery, and studied if there are effects of preoperative treatment for esophageal BSC, retrospectively. Results: Three of 4 patients receiving adjuvant therapy responded pathologically to the treatment. In advanced cases, the patients receiving adjuvant therapy showed a tendency to have better prognosis, but there was no significant difference. Conclusion: We were unable to obtain any statistical effectiveness for preoperative treatment for BSC, but it can be suggested that preoperative treatment is effective in advanced cases of BSC.