title: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery of cancer of the esophagus.
abstract: Neoadjuvant, or pre-operative, chemotherapy for esophageal cancer has become an area of increasing interest because of the failure of conventional therapy (surgery or radiation) to improve disease-free or overall survival. Several autopsy series have demonstrated that, in many symptomatic Western patients, esophageal cancer is a systemic disease. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy thus, in theory, allows a simultaneous attack on both the primary and metastatic disease. A number of single-arm, phase II multi-modality trials have been completed. Toxicities of chemotherapy, while substantial, have been tolerable. With careful attention to detail, operative morbidity and mortality has not been increased. Large-scale randomized trials, needed to evaluate the impact of this technique on disease-free and overall survival, have been designed and will shortly be activated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Cornell University Medical College, New York.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kelsen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bains
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burt
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D011859:Radiography