A recent case report by Helaleh Khoshbakht Ahmadi and her team from Iran University of Medical Sciences and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences has described a very rare kind of esophageal cancer in young people (28 years old man in case report).

The muscular tube connecting the throat to stomach is called esophagus. This 10-inch long tube is part of gastrointestinal tract.  When inside healthy cells of the esophagus grow out of control, they become cancerous and form a cellular mass called “tumor”.

As esophageal cancer cell can easily spread to the other parts of the body like lungs, liver, stomach, and etc, the mortality of this cancer is high.

Esophageal cancer incidence and mortality statistics

Esophageal cancer is the 6 cause of cancer death in the world. There are different incidence rates of esophageal cancer based on geographic locations.

For example, esophageal cancer is almost rare in United States and only make up 1% of all cancers reported. But the incidence has risen faster in other countries, such as Iran, northern China, India, and southern Africa.

Based on estimation of American Cancer Society as a top international cancer organization, 19,260 new esophageal cancer cases diagnosed and about 15,530 deaths happen in  the United States for 2021.

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Mostly, esophageal cancer case is diagnosed in age of 64–74 and only 3.2% of patients having less than 45 years. But recently, risky lifestyle of young people and their desire to risk factors like tobacco may questioned that esophageal cancer is disease of middle and old-age persons.

According to an authentic study reported in January 2021 by researcher of Mayo Clinic, incidence rate of esophageal cancer among people under the age of 50 has increased by more than 200% in  the last few decades. Also, it is interesting that compared with older individuals, younger person have cancer at more advanced stage. So cancer survival in this age group will decrease.

In this recent case reported from an Iranian patient, authors have reported a very rare esophageal cancer called synovial sarcoma in a 28 year old man.

He had problems of swallowing solid foods and pain right below his ribs for 4 months. Also he suffered from anorexia that make him to stop eating and cause weight loss (20 kg). Family history tracking has shown no evidence regarding disease existence in any member of his family.

By doing some diagnosis experiment like biopsy and CT scan, It has revealed a large 19 cm tumor mass in in the his esophagus. Although different therapeutic methods such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy has been used for him, patient died due to tumor spreading to lung. Survival time has reported 18 months.

Until April 2017, only 10 cases of esophageal synovial sarcoma have been reported. So giving information about this kind of esophageal cancer, can help physicians to be alert for younger patients similar clinical symptoms.

In case reported by Helaleh Khoshbakht Ahmadi, 28 old years man died despite of combination therapy. These finding have shown several factors effecting to select the best treatment approach for esophageal cancer in young people.

References:

1. Epidemiology and Outcomes of Young-Onset Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: An Analysis from a Population-Based Database. (2021) Don C. Codipilly, Tarek Sawas, Lovekirat Dhaliwal, Michele L. Johnson, Ramona Lansing, Kenneth K. Wang, Cadman L. Leggett, David A. Katzka and Prasad G. Iyer. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 30:1, 142-149
2. A case report of Synovial Sarcoma of the Esophagus. (2020) Pedram Fadavi, Helaleh Khoshbakht Ahmadi, Mastaneh Sanei, AD Kakhki. Cancer Press, 6:1, 8-16