title: [Radiotherapy in the multimodal treatment of esophageal carcinoma. A review].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The curative potential of exclusively applied surgery or radiotherapy on esophageal carcinoma is exhausted. The 5-year survival rate of surgically treated esophageal carcinoma is stagnant at 20 to 30%, that for radiotherapeutically treated esophageal carcinoma at < or = 10%. The unchanged bad prognoses motivate the search for multimodal therapeutical concepts in order to improve the results of basic therapies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While neither perioperative radiotherapy nor perioperative chemotherapy were able to improve the treatment results significantly, a progress in the field of primary and preoperative radiochemotherapy emerges. On locally restricted tumors the latest findings show that a simultaneous radiochemotherapy with Cisplatin is more effective than radiotherapy alone. 20 to 30% histologically verified complete remissions can be reached through preoperative radiochemotherapy. These results will influence future treatment concepts. Brachytherapy can be taken into consideration in highly palliative situations as exclusive method of treatment or for support of laser treatment or bouginage for removal of stenosis. As the number of clinically controlled studies is not sufficient the importance of the brachytherapy boost for potentially curative intentions is not yet clear. Up to now the intraluminal hyperthermia is a underestimated method for improving the results of radiotherapy. Our overview summarizes all presently published randomized studies and relevant phase I/II-studies.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung Strahlentherapie, Universität Heidelberg.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fritz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wannenmacher
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001918:Brachytherapy; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017321:Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic; D017322:Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011838:Radiation-Sensitizing Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011838:Radiation-Sensitizing Agents; D002945:Cisplatin
vernacular_title: Die Strahlenbehandlung in der multimodalen Therapie des Osophaguskarzinoms. Eine Ubersicht.