Mucosal changes in the upper gastrointestinal tract in Sri Lankan patients with squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus.

BACKGROUND

Squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus, is a common tumour in Sri Lanka. A thickened and pale appearance of the oral, hypopharyngeal and oesophageal mucosa, has been observed during endoscopy. The aim of this study was to document the histological changes of the mucosa thus affected in 93 patients with squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus.

METHOD

93 patients with oesophageal carcinoma had mucosal biopsies done from the left cheek, hypopharynx and 2.5 cm. and 5 cm above the tumour, during endoscopy for biopsy of the tumour. Paraffin sections of the biopsy stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin were examined. 25 specimens of oesophageal tissue, and tissue from the mucosa and hypopharyngeal mucosa obtained at coroners' autopsies from a comparable group served as controls (15 males, 10 females).

RESULTS

The tumours were squamous carcinoma of varying grades of differentiation. The mucosal biopsies showed, acanthosis, basal cell hyperplasia, intra epithelial neoplasia (IEN) grades I-III, chronic oesophagitis, koilocytosis and papillomatosis. The mucosa of the control group only showed koilocytosis and papillomatosis in two cases.

CONCLUSION

Pathological changes such as acanthosis, basal cell hyperplasia, intra epithelial neoplasia, chronic oesophagitis koilocytosis and papillomatosis occur in the oral hypopharyngeal and other areas of the oesophageal squamous mucosa, in association with squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus.