DEVELOPMENT OF ESOPHAGEAL CANCER AFTER ENDOSCOPIC INJECTION SCLEROTHERAPY FOR ESOPHAGEAL-VARICES - 3 CASE-REPORTS

We report here three cases of squamous-cell carcinoma of the esophagus following endoscopic injection sclerotherapy for esophageal varices. All three patients were men and cigarette smokers, with a mean age of 58.3 +/- 5.0 gears, Hepatitis B and C virus infection tests were negat ive, and alcoholic cirrhosis was present in each patient. The interval between sclerotherapy and the development of carcinoma was 9, 10, and 33 months, in the respective cases, The sclerosant used was 5% ethano lamine oleate with a mean total volume of 51.0 +/- 18.9 ml. While we h ave no evidence of a direct relationship between sclerotherapy and eso phageal cancer, in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis who have risk fac tors for esophageal cancer there may be an acceleration of the potenti al malignancy, as a result of the chronic inflammation related to scle rotherapy, Such patients should be closely followed, using endoscopy.