Leukoplakia of the Esophagus

Leukoplakia of the esophagus rarely receives clinical recognition, although many excellent studies (most recently that of Schaer) have shown this process to be commonly found at autopsy. There is, however, little in the literature concerning its significance. It is our hope that with the increasing application of esophagoscopy, clinical observation,and biopsy, material may be accumulated to show that leukoplakia of the esophagus is a process similar to leukoplakia involving other mucous membranes of the body and that for the same reasons it constitutes a precancerous lesion. Leukoplakia has been known under various names since 1818, when it was first described by Alibert (1) in a case rep0l't of general ichthyosis which involved extensively the cutaneous surfaces of the body and the oral mucosa. It was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century, however, that leukoplakia of the esophagus was first described by Bucher (3) and Rothmann (10), who recognized it as a process similar to that found on the mucous membranes of the mouth. Since that time work has been confined to the pathologic histology of leukoplakia and except for its recognition as a clinical entity by Jackson and others, there are no clinical data on this subject.