title: [Esophageal cancer].
abstract: The mortality rate in esophageal cancer among male and female is about 7.7 and 2.0, respectively, totaling 4.8 per 100,000 in Japan. This rate is higher in elderly patients over 60 years of age. The progress in esophageal cancer treatment reveals that until 1924, the operative mortality rate was 95% and even in 1932, the rate was still 50%, making this disease difficult to defeat. However, through Nakayama's improvements in operative procedures by Nakayama in 1948, the mortality rate dropped to below 10%. Recent treatment results in Japan show a resectability rate of 56.2%, operative mortality rate of 8.0% and relative 5-year survival rate of 22%. This is due to the fact that the cases were mainly of advanced cancers. For improvement in the treatment results, the detection of early cancer is vital, and practical collaboration on the part of the patient is most important. Besides x-ray and endoscopy, as methods of diagnosis, there is the capsulated brushing cytology and benefit of application of method is highly expected. As factors affecting the operative followed-up results, particularly vascular invasion and existence of lymph node metastasis can be considered and it is desirable that a treatment method with a firm grasp on the degree of advancement in these factors be applied.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors