The Relationship Between Achalasia and Esophageal Cancer: The Experience of a Tertiary Center

Objective: We examined the prevalence of esophageal cancer in 828 patients diagnosed with achalasia and the characteristics of patients who developed esophageal cancer. Material and Methods: The demographic characteristics and medical records of the patients who were followed up with a diagnosis of achalasia between 1995 and 2019 were investigated from the patient files. Results: The mean age of the patients was 51 +/- 17.3, 390 of them were males (47.1%) and 438 were females (52.9%). The mean diagnosis age of the patients was 45.4 years. The median follow-up duration of the patients was 73 months (12-480). Esophageal cancer developed in 5 patients (0.6%) during follow-up. Three of these 5 patients had squamous cell carcinoma (60%) and 2 had adenocarcinoma (40%). Three of these patients were males (60%) and 2 were females (40%). The mean age of the patients was 68 (56-78), and cancer developed after a median of 156 months (24-216) after the achalasia diagnosis. Balloon dilation therapy was performed for the treatment of achalasia in all 5 patients who developed esophageal cancer. Conclusion: Achalasia patients have an increased risk of developing esophageal cancer compared to the general population, and patients should be followed closely for cancer development.