Esophageal Cancer - Classification

Classification

Esophageal cancers are typically carcinomas which arise from the epithelium, or surface lining, of the esophagus. Most esophageal cancers fall into one of two classes: squamous cell carcinomas, which are similar to head and neck cancer in their appearance and association with tobacco and alcohol consumption, and adenocarcinomas, which are often associated with a history of gastroesophageal reflux disease and Barrett's esophagus. A general rule of thumb is that a cancer in the upper two-thirds is a squamous cell carcinoma and one in the lower one-third is an adenocarcinoma. Rare histologic types of esophageal cancer are different variants of the squamous cell carcinoma, and non-epithelial tumors, such as leiomyosarcoma, malignant melanoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, lymphoma and others.