Persistent cough: An unexpected diagnosis

Abstract

Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the sixth most common cause of cancer death globally. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) accounts for 70%–90% of esophageal cancers worldwide, 5% are adenocarcinoma, and 5% represent rare malignancies and metastases from other organs. We present a case where a 54-year-old lady, with multiple readmissions for persistent dry cough and respiratory symptoms, turns out to be an esophageal malignancy. CECT thorax revealed an enhancing wall thickening of the esophagus with paraoesophageal fat stranding, mediastinal lymphadenopathy, and subsegmental right lobe atelectasis, suggestive of a probable esophageal malignancy. An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed a circumferential esophageal growth which on biopsy and histopathological examination turned out to be a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus.