ADENOCARCINOMAS OF ESOPHAGUS AND CARDIA IN COMPARISON WITH GASTRIC-CARCINOMA

Since the carcinomas of the cardia and the adenocarcinomas of the esop hagus show many similarities in their histological and morphological d escriptions, a detailed comparative study was attempted on the basis o f 66 esophageal carcinomas in adenoid differentiation, 359 carcinomas of the cardia, 1288 gastric carcinomas in infracardial localisation, a nd 492 squamous carcinomas of the esophagus. The evaluation yielded no significant differences between the adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and the cardia neither in age and sex distribution nor with regard to the classifications of Borrmann, WHO, Ming, and Lauren, but a signific ant discrimination was possible between esophageal and cardial adenoca rcinoma together, on the one hand, and infracardial gastric carcinoma on the other. Furthermore, esophageal adenocarcinomas were localized p referentially in the lower third, unlike squamous carcinomas of the sa me organ. These results suggest that esophageal adenocarcinoma and car cinoma of the cardia must be considered as one separate entity, probab ly originating from a common stem cell. They further suggest that the cardia belongs to the esophagus rather than to the stomach.