A case of salvage surgery for gastric wall recurrence of esophageal cancer after chemoradiotherapy

The patient was a 69-year-old man. He underwent chemoradiotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer, and achieved a complete response. However, 16 months after chemoradiotherapy, lymph nodes metastases were detected along the celiac artery. He underwent chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy. Positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) at 3 months after radiotherapy showed new uptake of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) at the cardiac region of the stomach. Endoscopy revealed a tumor that was diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma by biopsy. Under the diagnosis of gastric intramural recurrence of esophageal cancer, he was referred to our hospital. Proximal gastrectomy and resection of lymph nodes along the celiac artery were performed. The patient is alive without recurrence 1 year after surgery. Metachronous gastric intramural recurrence of esophageal cancer is very rare. We report this case with a review of the literature.