ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Gastric and Esophageal Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1512433
Clinicopathologic features of superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in different infiltrative growth pattern
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
- 2Department of Hematology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
- 3Department of Pathology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
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In this retrospective study, we analyzed the association between the tumor infiltrative growth pattern (INF) and clinicopathological features of superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SESCC). In total, 368 patients diagnosed with SESCC and clearly defined INF classification who underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) between 2014 and 2023 were included. The INF type was microscopically evaluated at the tumor invasive margin using hematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained slides. The tumor INF was associated with tumor size, macroscopic type, intraepithelial papillary capillary loop (IPCL), infiltration depth, lymphovascular invasion, vascular invasion, and vertical and horizontal positive margins. Increased tumor size, presence of IPCL type B2, and depressed gross morphology were more indicative of INFc-type SESCC. Compared with INFa and INFb, INFc type SESCC has deeper infiltration depth and is more likely to have lymphovascular invasion and positive postoperative resection margins. Therefore, careful visualization of tumor size, IPCL, and gross morphology under endoscopy could improve the prediction of INF and tumor status, facilitating informed preoperative selection of surgical approach and help for the selection of more aggressive postoperative treatment.
Keywords: SESCC1, INF2, IPCL3, Infiltration depth4, Clinicopathologic features5
Received: 16 Oct 2024; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qi, Zuo, Yu, Zhang, Cui, Li and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiujie Cui, Department of Pathology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
Guangchun Li, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
Honglei Wu, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
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