Oat cell carcinoma of the oesophagus--a case report and review of literature.

A 45-year-old male presented with dysphagia, anorexia and progressive weight loss. He was a chronic smoker. Oesophagoscopy showed an ulceroproliferative growth of 25-30 cm size. Histopathology from the biopsy tissue showed small cell (oat cell) carcinoma. He received radiotherapy, but died 9 months later. Small cell carcinoma of the oesophagus constitutes 0.8-2.4% of all the oesophageal carcinoma. The tumour is an aggressive one with a poor prognosis irrespective of the treatment.