Submucosal tumor-like esophageal cancer mimicking a cutaneous sweat gland carcinoma: A case report

Abstract

Esophageal cancer rarely grows as an intramural tumor with an intact surface epithelium. A previous report described submucosal tumor-like esophageal cancer that had an overlapping morphological phenotype similar to that of a cutaneous sweat gland tumor. Here, we encountered another case of submucosal esophageal cancer mimicking skin adnexal carcinoma. A man in his early 60s who presented with difficulty in swallowing was admitted to our hospital. He had a 30 × 30 mm submucosal tumor in the abdominal esophagus and underwent partial esophagogastrectomy. Histopathological examination revealed that the tumor was composed of cord-like squamoid cell nests that was partially accompanied by gland structure in the inner layer, as found in cutaneous squamoid ductal eccrine carcinoma. The tumor exhibited CK7 immunoreactivity as did the neighboring dilated ducts of the esophageal gland. We describe a unique submucosal tumor-like esophageal cancer that had overlapping morphological features with squamoid ductal eccrine carcinoma and putatively originated in the esophageal submucosal gland ducts.

Keywords

• Esophageal cancer
• Esophageal submucosal gland
• SMT-like tumor
• Squamoid ductal eccrine carcinoma
• Sweat gland tumor of the skin