Brain metastasis from stage I esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after surgery: a case report

Esophageal cancer rarely metastasizes to the brain. The authors experienced a case of esophageal carcinoma which metastasized to the cerebellum as the first presentation. A 61-year-old man was identified as having esophageal carcinoma by esophagogastroduodenoscopy during a medical checkup. Subtotal esophagectomy with dissection of 3 regional lymph nodes was performed. The tumor was 30 × 20 mm² in size, and was revealed to be a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The pathological finding was T1b(SM)N0M0 stage I. Fourteen months after the surgery, the patient complained of nausea. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a cystic tumor of 42 × 28 × 28 mm³ in size in the central cerebellum. No other metastasis was pointed out. A craniotomy for brain tumor resection was performed, and the histopathological examination revealed that it was a metastatic carcinoma from the esophagus. Gamma knife therapy was added. The patient died of cerebellar metastasis recurrence 24 months after the first surgery.