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Choosing the Best Treatment for Esophageal Cancer

Criteria for Selecting the Best Multimodal Therapy

  • Conference paper
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Early Gastrointestinal Cancers

Part of the book series: Recent Results in Cancer Research ((RECENTCANCER,volume 196))

Abstract

The best multimodal therapy in esophageal cancer comprises neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy in patients with adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma whereas neoadjuvant chemotherapy is only appropriate for patients with adenocarcinoma. However, the 2-year survival benefit by this induction therapy compared to surgery alone is only 5–9 %. Targeted drugs seem to be promising in order to improve the response rate. The choice of the best multimodal therapy by response prediction seems only to be possible in patients during chemotherapy for adenocarcinoma, whereas during neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy a response prediction by FDG–PET is not possible. The principle item of multimodal therapy is still transthoracic en bloc esophagectomy which should be performed in high volume centers in order to guarantee stable and good results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General, Visceral and Cancer Surgery, University of Cologne, Kerpener Straße 62, 50937, Köln, Germany

    A. H. Hölscher & E. Bollschweiler

Authors
  1. A. H. Hölscher
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  2. E. Bollschweiler
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Correspondence to A. H. Hölscher .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tumor- und Brustzentrum ZeTuP AG, Rorschacherstr. 150, St. Gallen, 9006, Switzerland

    Florian Otto

  2. Rheinstr. 2, Saarbrücken, 66113, Germany

    Manfred P. Lutz

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hölscher, A.H., Bollschweiler, E. (2012). Choosing the Best Treatment for Esophageal Cancer. In: Otto, F., Lutz, M. (eds) Early Gastrointestinal Cancers. Recent Results in Cancer Research, vol 196. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31629-6_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31629-6_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31629-6

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