Abstract:Objective To study the endoscopic characteristics, therapeutic effect and prognosis of early esophageal basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (EBSCC).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 32 cases of early EBSCC treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD from January 2014 to December 2020 (EBSCC group), and 96 cases of common typical early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) treated with ESD during the same period were selected as the control group (ESCC group). The age, gender, tumor size, depth of tumor invasion, endoscopic characteristics, treatment results and survival rate were compared and analyzed between the two groups.Results There were no significant differences in age (P = 0.746), sex composition (P = 0.506), tumor size (P = 0.423) and tumor invasion depth (P = 0.914) between the two groups. The tumors in both groups were mostly in the middle esophagus, and the main types were 0-IIb under endoscopy, and the superficial mucosa of all lesions were coarse and/or erosion. The intraepithelial papillary capillary loop (IPCL) was mainly B1 type after magnification, with no statistical difference (P > 0.05). The incidence of leukoplakia was significantly higher in EBSCC group than in ESCC group (56.25% vs 26.04%, χ2 = 9.88, P = 0.002). In the iodine solution stained EBSCC group, 17 cases (53.12%) showed no staining or light staining, and 15 cases (46.88%) showed mottled non-staining changes (staining spots or deep staining spots were visible in the iodine free area). In ESCC group, 72 cases (75.00%) showed no staining or light staining, and 24 cases (25.00%) showed mottled nonstaining. There was significant difference between the two groups after iodine solution staining (χ2 = 5.42, P = 0.020). There was no significant difference in survival rate between the two groups after treatment (93.75% vs 96.88%, χ2 = 0.62, P = 0.429).Conclusion The endoscopic manifestations of early esophageal basaloid squamous cell carcinoma were inconsistent, with leukoplakia on the lesion surface, mottled unstained changes after iodine staining, and type-B IPCL by magnifying endoscopy-narrow band imaging, suggesting the possible presence of basaloid squamous cell carcinoma(BSCC) components. Early treatment of EBSCC can improve survival rate and prognosis.