Oesophageal carcinoma in a married couple following long-term exposure to dry cleaning agents

摘要

Occupational exposure to environmental carcinogens is a risk factor for the development of carcinoma of a number of organs. We report the case of a married couple, both of whom developed oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (oSCC) following occupational exposure to perchloroethylene (PERC) over a 30-year period. Idiopathic oSCC is not uncommon, but when it occurs in a husband and wife who worked in, and lived above, their own dry cleaning business, an active dry cleaning agent must be considered as the potential aetiological factor.