Five Cases with Ectopic Esophageal Sebaceous Glands

: Sebaceous glands in the esophagus are considered to be rare and are of particular interest because of their as yet unknown origin. Six postmortem and 48 antemortem cases with this condition have been reported. We report herein five cases diagnosed by endoscopy and biopsy, with a review of the pertinent literature. The hypotheses that gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), alcohol consumption, smoking, and hyperlipidemia play roles in the pathogenesis of ectopic sebaceous glands of the esophagus are not supported by current evidence. Given the gradual increase in reports of adult cases with ectopic esophageal sebaceous glands, we suspect that these lesions may not be as rare as generally assumed.