Benign and malignant tumors of the esophagus

On a global basis, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is still the leading cancer in the esophagus, and it is ranked as the eighth in incidence and the sixth in mortality among tumors of all sites. However, its incidence varies significantly among different geographic and ethnic subgroups. The Asian Esophageal Cancer Belt includes western and northern China, Mongolia, southern parts of the former Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq, and eastern Turkey. The highest incidence, 700 per 100,000, was reported in Linxian, China. The multifactorial causes for this high incidence are still to be further elucidated, but they likely include cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol use, dietary habit (vitamin deficiency etc.), different food processing, environmental exposure, etc.