title: Treatment options for esophageal cancer.
abstract: There is considerable controversy over the level of evidence from randomized trials underpinning management decisions for patients presenting with localized cancer of the esophagus and esophago-gastric junction. There is also an optimism that new drugs and new approaches, including response prediction based on sequential (18)FDG-PET scanning following induction chemotherapy, may improve treatments pathways and outcomes. In this review we assess the level of evidence from the major published trials, and discuss new trials and approaches.
authors.affiliation: 1St James's Hospital, Department of Surgery, Trinity Centre, Dublin 8, Ireland.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Narayamasamy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ravi
authors.forename: John V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Reynolds
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D004943:Esophagogastric Junction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome