Esophagectomy for adenocarcinoma in patients 45 years of age and younger

Esophageal adenocarcinoma in patients 45 years of age or younger is uncommon. We reviewed our experience with die surgical management of these patients to determine their clinical characteristics, pathologic findings, and treatment results. Thirty-two patients were identified through our surgical pathology, database, and their medical records were reviewed to determine clinical characteristics, treatment, treatment-associated mortality, tumor staging, presence of Barrett's mucosa, and survival. In our series, patients were white (100%) males (96.9%) with a history of reflux (56.3%), cigarette smoking (40.6%), and alcohol consumption (59.4%), who presented with progressive solid food dysphagia (78.1%). A prior diagnosis of Barrett's mucosa or use of antireflux medications was noted in five patients each (15.6%). There were no operative deaths. Actuarial survival was 81.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 66.1 to 96.2) at 12 months, 68.5% (95% CI 49.5 to 87.5) at 24 months, and 56.9% (95% CI 34.6 to 79.1) at 60 months. Our findings show that patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma 45 years of age or younger have similar clinical findings to those reported in other large series where the median age is in the sixth or seventh decade of life, supporting a uniform theory of tumor pathogenesis. Esophagectomy may be performed with low mortality, and survival is reasonable for early-stage disease. Young patients with Barrett's esophagus are not immune from the development of adenocarcinoma and need to be screened accordingly.