Pseudoachalasia: a diagnostic challenge.

ABSTRACT

Here, we present a case of a 78-year-old man that underwent gastrointestinal endoscopy because of one- month history of dysphagia to liquids and solid foods with accompanying weight loss. On endoscopy, there was distal esophageal stenosis. Multiple biopsies were obtained. Histologic examination of the samples revealed normal tissue. The stenosis was treated by dilatation and abdomino pelvic computed tomography scanning was performed to search for an underlying malignant lesion that showed a mass adjacent to distal esophagus. We did endosonography- guided fine needle aspiration of the mass. It was a squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Malignancy is a challenging diagnosis in patients with dysphagia and near normal endoscopy. To our knowledge, there are a few reports of SCC to cause it.