Analysis of thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with single lymph node metastasis

Background: We studied cases with single lymph node metastasis from thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Methods: We reviewed the site of nodal metastasis in 73 cases with a single metastatic site.

Results: The lymph node metastases of the upper thoracic cases were located in the cervical, superior mediastinal, middle mediastinal, lower mediastinal, and abdominal lymph nodes in 5, 10, 3, 0, and 0 cases, respectively. The lymph node metastases of the middle thoracic cases were located in the cervical, superior mediastinal, middle mediastinal, lower mediastinal, and abdominal lymph nodes in 1, 18, 6, 0, and 11 cases, respectively. The depth of tumor in the middle thoracic case that had metastasis in a cervical lymph node was T1b, and the location of the metastatic lymph node was number 104 L. The lymph node metastases of the lower thoracic cases were located in the cervical, superior mediastinal, middle mediastinal, lower mediastinal, and abdominal lymph nodes in 0, 2, 2, 4, and 11 cases, respectively. The depth of tumor in the lower thoracic cases with metastasis in a superior mediastinal lymph node was T1b and T4.

Conclusions: Even in superficial thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cases, distant metastasis was observed at an early stage. Therefore, the range of lymph node dissection should be decided carefully in these cases.