Successful treatment of esophageal cancer with transhiatal esophagectomy after heart transplantation.

A 55-year-old heart transplant recipient with reflux esophagitis presented for routine endoscopic surveillance of an area of Barrett's metaplasia initially seen 3 years previously. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed adenocarcinoma at 33 cm from the incisors. The preoperative clinical stage was T1N0M0 by endoscopic ultrasound. Transhiatal esophagectomy was performed with R0 resection of the cancer, and the patient recovered uneventfully. Pathologic examination confirmed esophageal adenocarcinoma (T1N0M0) in Barrett's mucosa. The patient is doing well, and has no evidence of disease after 18 months.