Incidental neuroendocrine tumor of the esophagus: A case report and review of the literature

Neuroendocrine tumors are rarely found in the esophagus. We present a case of a 71 year old female with a history of Barrett's esophagus with high grade dysplasia that on screening endoscopy was found to have a squamous patch proximal to the gastroesophageal junction and underwent an endoscopic mucosal resection. Within the resection, there was a small tumor with a monomorphic population with speckled nuclear chromatin located within the lamina propria extending into the muscularis mucosae. The tumor measured 1 mm in greatest dimension and the overlying epithelium showed no evidence of the presence of Barrett's esophagus. Immunohistochemical staining of the tumor was consistent with carcinoid tumor: positive for chromogranin, synaptophysin, and pan-cytokeratin. The Ki-67 index was <2%, categorizing it as a grade 1 neuroendocrine tumor. This case is unique because previous literature indicates that neuroendocrine tumors, previously called carcinoid tumors, are either in the background of adenocarcinoma or are large lesions causing obstructive symptoms, which this tumor was neither. We aim to add to the limited body of literature for neuroendocrine tumors of the esophagus. Keyword: Neuroendocrine tumor of the esophagus

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.