PURPOSE To analyse the treatment results of neo-adjuvant chemoradiation combined with regional hyperthermia in patients with resectable esophageal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between August 2003 and December 2004, 28 patients entered a phase II study combining chemoradiation over a 4.5-week period with five sessions of regional hyperthermia. Chemotherapy consisted of carboplatin (AUC = 2) an...

Esophageal strictures commonly complicate radiation therapy for neck and thoracic malignancies. We here report a case of radiation induced stricture esophagus and illustrate the classical barium esophagogram in this condition. 58 year old male with past history of carcinoma esophagus treated with radiotherapy had presented with recurrence of dysphagia. Dysphagia was insidious in onset and was p...

AIM To determine the rate of abdominal lymph node metastasis after radical surgery for esophageal cancer and define the radiotherapy target area. METHODS Of the 1593 patients who underwent R0 radical esophagectomy for thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (TE-SCC), 148 developed abdominal lymph node (LN) metastases within three years of surgery. During that time interval, patients were ...

BACKGROUND Risk factors for development of a stricture of the upper esophagus after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer are poorly defined. METHODS This was a retrospective case-control study of patients diagnosed and treated for esophageal stricture after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. RESULTS The incidence of esophageal stricture after external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) was ...

BACKGROUND Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is a standard treatment for local advanced esophageal cancer, but the outcomes are controversial. Our goals were to compare the therapeutic effects of concurrent chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy alone in local advanced esophageal cancer using meta-analysis. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane library were searched for studies comparing chemoradio...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of malnutrition is very high in patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not a nutrition support team (NST) could benefit esophageal cancer patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT). METHODS Between June 2012 and April 2014, 50 esophageal cancer patients undergoing concurrent CRT were randomly assigned into two groups: The NST g...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS Endoscopic resection is one treatment option for residual or locally recurrent esophageal cancer after definitive chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy alone. However, little is known about the clinical benefit of salvage endoscopic resection for these lesions. Therefore, the effectiveness and prognostic factors of salvage endoscopic resection were investigated. PATIENTS...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the dosimetric differences among conformal radiotherapy (CRT), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and volumetric-modulated radiotherapy (VMAT) in the treatment of middle thoracic esophageal cancer, and determine the most appropriate treatment modality. IMRT and one-arc VMAT plans were generated for eight middle thoracic esophageal cancer patient...

BACKGROUND Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) is suggested to predict the radiosensitivity and/or prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The present study was designed to investigate the clinical and prognostic effects of IGFBP-3 on ESCC. METHODS IGFBP-3 was detected by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded tissues from 70 ESCC patients t...

OBJECTIVE Long-term survival and late toxicities of a randomized Phase II study of chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer were analyzed. METHODS Eligible patients were <75 years old and performance status 0-2, and had Stages II-IVA esophageal cancer. For arm A (short-term infusion), cisplatin 70 mg/m(2) Days 1 and 29 and 5-fluorouracil 700 mg/m(2) Days 1-5 and 29-33 were given concurrently w...