Abstract Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine the clinico-pathological features of primary esophageal l malignant tumors and to compare with primary gastrointestinal malignancies. Materials and methods: 45 patients with primary esophageal malignant tumors diagnosed over a 5 year period were studied clinically and histopathologically, they were classified using the WHO classification and compared with 300 primary gastrointestinal tumors and the previous studies. Result: 45 patients (15% ) were esophageal malignancies arising out of 300 primary gastrointestinal malignancies, with a male to female ratio of 3.5:1. Majority were males, majority were non vegetarians and most of the males were alcoholics and smokers. The youngest patient affected is 20 years old and the oldest patient is 78 years old with mean age of 52.17 and median age of 53 years. Tumor more common in the sixth and seventh decade of life.In esophagus, the presenting symptoms in the decreasing order of frequency were dysphagia, weight loss, hematemesis and abdominal pain. Malignant tumors were more common in lower one third with 25 cases (55.55%) followed by frequency in middle and upper one third of esophagus with a male preponderance. Ulcerative type of lesion was the most common gross presentation in 55.5% of the tumors followed by exophytic and infiltrative pattern. The commonest malignant tumor of esophagus was squamous cell carcinoma constituting 71.8%, and rest include adenocarcinomas, poorly differentiated carcinomas and a single case of adenosquamous carcinoma. Conclusion: Primary esophageal malignancy constitute about 15% of all gastrointestinal malignancies, males commonly affected (3.5 :1) and more common in alcoholics and non vegetarians. dysphagia, weight loss, hematemesis and abdominal pain was the most common clinical presentations, more common in lower one third with 25 cases (55.55%). Ulcerative type of lesion was the most common gross presentation in 55.5% of the tumors, Histologically 71.8% were sqamous cell carcinoma and few cased of adenocarcinomas, poorly differentiated carcinomas and a single case of adenosquamous carcinoma.
Keywords: Primary Esophageal Malignancy; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms.