The utility of endoscopic screening for patients with esophageal or head and neck cancer

In a series of 378 patients with esophageal carcinoma, 43 patients with head and neck carcinoma were divided into two groups: 30 patients without symptoms whose esophageal or head and neck second primary carcinomas were incidentally detected by an endoscopic examination for the second carcinoma (group 1) and 13 patients with symptoms whose esophageal or head and neck second primary carcinomas were detected by routine examinations (group 2). Regarding the second primary carcinomas, the incidence of stage 0–I and curability were significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2 (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05 respectively). The 5-year overall survival rates of patients with the second primary carcinomas were significantly higher in group 1 (60.4%) than in group 2 (0%) (p < 0.01). We suggest that a routine endoscopic screening of the upper aerodigestive tract in patients with esophageal carcinoma or head and neck carcinoma contributes to the improvement of the prognosis and the patient’s quality of life.