Today's approach to esophageal cancer. What is the role of the primary care physician?
Esophageal cancer is a devastating disease. Patients are most likely to first present to a primary care physician, who should immediately undertake an initial diagnostic and staging evaluation. The approach then should become multidisciplinary, involving surgical and medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and gastroenterologists. Optimal therapy of esophageal cancer continues to evolve. While multimodality therapy remains controversial, studies are ongoing to determine the best approaches to improve survival. Further studies to define the role of surveillance endoscopy in certain high-risk patients are warranted.
Fox
J R
JR
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, USA.
Kuwada
S K
SK
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology