Varicoid carcinoma of the esophagus. Report of a patient with adenocarcinoma and review of the literature.

A patient with varicoid carcinoma of the esophagus is reported. These tumors differ from classical esophageal carcinoma and have some resemblance to esophageal varices in their radiological and endoscopic appearances. Dysphagia is generally not the presenting symptom. The histological picture in our patient was that of a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with areas of signet-cell carcinoma. This is an exceptional finding since all previously reported cases of varicoid carcinoma of the esophagus have been squamous cell carcinomas.