[Leiomyoma of the oesophagus].

Introduction: Oesophageal leiomyoma is a rare tumour. The purpose of this paper is to describe the form of presentation, the approaches and the surgical technique, in five consecutive cases.

Material And Method: A retrospective analysis was performed on the data recorded prospectively on five consecutive patients operated on between 2003 and 2007.

Results: All the patients were seen due to dysphagia to solids. All were examined with contrast radiology, video-endoscopy and computed tomography, although 4 of them also had ultrasound endoscopy performed. The surgical technique was extra-mucosal enucleation, with 3 cases by thoracoscopy and 2 by thoracotomy. There were no complications. The immunohistochemistry study was negative for CD117 and CD34 in all cases.

Conclusions: Enucleation of oesophageal leiomyomas by video-thoracoscopy is safe, well tolerated, and there is a rapid recovery, and is the procedure of choice for this benign tumour. Thoracotomy may be necessary in some presentations and locations.