Surgical adjuvant treatment of esophageal carcinoma: a Japanese Esophageal Oncology Group experience.
To improve the survival rate of patients with esophageal carcinoma, many types of treatment adjuvant to surgery have been examined. In Western countries, neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiation therapy has been preferentially studied. In Japan, preoperative radiotherapy was regarded to be the best treatment arm in the past, but the JEOG study clarified the role of postoperative radiotherapy. After this study, JEOG has concentrated on examining the best postoperative adjuvant treatment. In Japan radical operation, which includes not only complete removal of the main tumor but also an extended dissection of the lymph nodes in the mediastinum, abdomen and neck, has elevated the survival rate significantly during these 10 years. Thus, surgery itself is regarded as the major factor in the treatment of esophageal carcinoma. We considered it essential to compare the best adjuvant chemotherapy with surgery alone, to determine whether adjuvant treatment should be performed or not.
Iizuka
T
T
National Oji Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016019:Survival Analysis