Lymphoepithelioma-like esophageal carcinoma with macroscopic reduction

Esophageal lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma(LELC) is extremely rare. We report the first case of esopha-geal LELC showing macroscopic reduction. A 67-year-old male presented with dysphagia and, by endoscopic examination, was found to have a significantly raised tumor of 10 mm in diameter in the thoracic esophagus. The biopsied material showed esophageal cancer. We performed endoscopic submucosal dissection. However, the tumor became flattened, similar to a scar, in only 2 mo. Histologically, the carcinoma cells had infiltrated the submucosal layer. Prominent infiltration of T lymphoid cells that stained positive for CD8 was observed aroundthe carcinoma cells. Therefore, this lesion was consid-ered to be an LELC with poorly differentiated squamous cells. Because the margin was positive, an esophagec-tomy was performed. Carcinoma cells were detected in the neck in one lymph node. The staging was T1N0M1 b. However, the patient has been well, without adjuvant therapy or recurrence, for more than 5 years.