Endoscopic features of suspected precancerous lesions in high-risk areas for esophageal cancer.

A high prevalence of a chronic form of esophagitis was found during two endoscopic surveys carried out in high-incidence areas of esophageal cancer in 430 subjects from Iran, and in 527 individuals from Linxian, Peoples Republic of China, selected from the general population. This high prevalence was present even in the younger age groups. The lesion does not seem to be related to gastro-histological correlation, available for all cases examined, confirmed the chronic nature of the lesion. dysplasia was found in 3 to 8 per cent of the cases. Overall, 21 esophageal cancers were diagnosed, most in a very early phase, and some only at histology. A follow-up of 20 cases after one year, showed the progression of this chronic lesion to cancer in 4 cases. The data available suggest the precancerous nature of the lesion in these high-risk populations.