by Fumisato Sasaki, Shuji Kanmura, Kohei Oda, Hidehito Maeda, Masayuki Kabayama, Hiromichi Iwaya, Yuga Komaki, Shiho Arima, Shiroh Tanoue, Shinichi Hashimoto, Hiroshi Fujita, Akio Ido
Patients with inactive acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) are at high risk for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPSCC). The acetaldehyde breath test (ABT) may demonstrate ALDH2 gene polymorphisms. We evaluated the usefulness of the ABT in patients with ESCC and HPSCC. The squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) group consisted of 100 patients who were treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for ESCC or HPSCC, and the control group (HC) consisted of 275 healthy subjects. The SCC group comprised the "single subgroup" (
n = 63), in which a single lesion was initially treated with ESD, and the "multiple subgroup" (
n = 31), in which multiple lesions were initially treated with ESD. First, we compared the groups' risk factors for carcinogenesis and measured the acetaldehyde-to-ethanol (A/E) ratio. Then we tested the groups' differences in the abovementioned carcinogenic risk factors. We found that the proport ion of individuals in the SCC group with inactive ALDH2 (A/E ratio ≥ 23.3) was significantly higher than that in the HC group (
p = 0.035), as was the A/E ratio (
p p = 0.015), as was the A/E ratio (
p = 0.008). In conclusion, ABT may be a potential screening tool for detecting people at risk of ESCC and HPSCC. In addition, it could be a useful tool in detecting patients at risk of multiple or double carcinomas among patients with ESCC and HPSCC. Trial registration: Trial Registration number: UMIN000040615 [https://rctportal.niph.go.jp/en/detail?trial_id=UMIN000040615], Data of Registration: 01 46 June 2020, retrospectively registered.
