| PurposeThe aim of the current study is to report the clinical features, management and natural courses of the cases with extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma (ESC) in our single-institution series.Patients and MethodsThe medical records of cases with ESC treated between January 2002 and December 2007 were retrospectively studied. Those patients who had pathologically proved SCC in sites other than lung were eligible for the study. Survival was recorded from the date of histological diagnosis. Staging was similar to that used in small cell lung carcinoma by the Veterans' Administration Lung Group. Survival was calculated by using the Kaplan-Meier method.ResultsFourteen patients with ESC referred to No. 2 hospital, Zhe Jiang University School of Medicine, were identified. In total, 8 (57.1%) patients had disease in the oesophagus. 9 (64%) patients had limited disease (LD), and 5 (36%) patients had extensive disease (ED). 10 (72.4%) patients underwent surgery with or without adjuvant therapy. 2(14.2%) patients received radiotherapy and 5(35.5%) patients had given chemotherapy. 1(7.1%) patient received prophylactic cranial irradiation.Patients with LD had a longer median overall survival of 17 months compared with 10 months in patients with ED. Median survival of cases without lymph node metastases was longer than those with lymph node metastases (17 vs 6 months, P=0.050). All three cases of ESC-stomach are still alive in disease-free state after gastrectomy followed by chemotherapy. Median survival of all patients was 14 months (95%CI, 8.29-19.70 months).ConclusionThe oesophagus is the major site involved by ESC in the current series. Patients with small cell carcinoma of stomach have better prognosis and the disease extent is important factor in predicting survival. The response to various treatment modalities and the median survival time observed are discouraging. |
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