Carcinoma arising within epiphrenic diverticula. A report of two cases and review of the literature.

Two patients with squamous cell carcinoma arising within an epiphrenic diverticulum are reported bringing the total reported in the English-language literature to fifteen. The majority of patients with carcinoma arising in an epiphrenic diverticulum are elderly males who have been symptomatic for years with a known diverticulum. This is the first report of multiple cases of carcinoma within an epiphrenic diverticulum from a single institution and the first report in a female patient. Similar to other reports, these two patients presented with several months of symptoms related to their esophageal diverticulum. It is important to entertain the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma early in the evaluation of patients with signs and symptoms suggestive of epiphrenic diverticula as early intervention may be the only chance of cure.