An extensive morphological and comparative study of clinically early and obvious squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus appears mainly as an isolated tumor, frequently diagnosed in its latest stage. However, current advances in endoscopy, systematically used for high risk subjects, allow the detection of very early lesions such as epithelial dysplasia or in situ carcinoma. Twenty-eight squamous cell carcinomas were extensively studied: Group A contained 15 clinically "early cancers"; Group B 12 clinically obvious carcinomas and group C one clinically obvious bifocal carcinoma.