SMALL-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE ESOPHAGUS

Small cell carcinoma of the oesophagus is an uncommon malignancy, Only 272 cases have been reported to date, Inconsistency in therapeutic ap proaches reflects the paucity of individual experience and the unsatis factory response to current management strategies, We report 11 cases drawn from a series of 1012 cases of oesophageal malignancy and perfor m a statistical analysis on treatment and survival data of 189 cases d rawn from the world literature, Small cell carcinoma of the oesophagus was seen to have an incidence of 1%. Seven of 11 patients were female , A variety of therapeutic modalities were employed, and the median su rvival was 6.6 months. Statistical analysis of these and worldwide dat a showed a significant survival advantage for patients who received mu ltimodality therapy.