LAUSR

37Background: Esophageal small cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a very rare but aggressive disease with poor prognosis. The objective of this study was to describe immunohistochemical and clinicopathological features of patients with ESCC in Chinese population, and to clarify how the utilization of different marker combinations affects prognostic outcome. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 73 patients with ESCC. The tumor samples obtained were immunohistochemically analysed of neuron specific enolase enolase (NSE), synaptophysin (Syn), chromogranin A (CgA), and Thyroid Transcriptional Factor-1 (TTF-1). The positivity of these four factors and their correlation with clinical characteristics was described. The relation between positive expression of them and survival was also analysed. Results: The median age at the time of diagnosis was 57 (ranging from 36 to 77 years). 55 patients were male (75.3%) and 18 patients (24.7%) were female. Immunological reactivity of the samples was Syn 68.5%, TTF-1 46.6%...