The importance of the concept and histological criteria of "intraepithelial squamous cell carcinoma" of the esophagus: in comparison between Western and Japanese criteria.

Background There are differences in the histological diagnostic criteria for early stage gastrointestinal carcinoma between Western and Japanese pathologists. Western histological criteria of carcinoma are “presence of stromal invasion of neoplastic cells”, while Japanese criteria are “the degree of cytological and structural abnormality of neoplastic cells, regardless of stromal invasion”. The aim of the present study is to clarify and review the present status of the Western and Japanese histological criteria of early stage esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and also to clarify their significance and accuracy. Methods Twenty-nine Polish, German, and Japanese pathologists participate…