Pathological classification of esophageal cancer

The esophagus is a tube connecting the stomach and pharynx, 25-30cm long. Esophageal cancer can occur in the upper, middle and lower sections of the esophagus: the middle section is the most common, followed by the lower section, and the upper section is less common. Some lower esophageal cancers are caused by extensions of the gastric cardia, which are often difficult to distinguish from carcinoma in situ in the lower esophagus clinically, so they are also called esophageal cardia cancer.

(1) Early esophageal cancer: It is divided into latent type (congestive type), erosive type, plaque type and papillary type. Among them, the latent type is the earliest and is carcinoma in situ, while the papillary type is relatively late.

(2) Advanced esophageal cancer: It is divided into medullary, umbilical, ulcerative and stricture types, with the medullary type being the most common, accounting for about 60%.

(3) Histological classification: It is divided into squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, small cell undifferentiated carcinoma and carcinosarcoma. Among them, squamous cell carcinoma accounts for the vast majority, accounting for more than 90%, adenocarcinoma accounts for about 5%, and small cell undifferentiated carcinoma is even rarer.