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Esophageal Cancer

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A Mastery Approach to Complex Esophageal Diseases

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Abstract

Esophageal cancer is a major global health burden affecting 746,000 individuals and responsible for 459,300 deaths in 2015. Important contributing factors in the development of this disease can include: history of gastrointestinal reflux disease, high rates of visceral obesity, Caucasian race, smoking, and male gender. Symptoms of early esophageal cancer are often vague and non-specific, which makes timely diagnosis even more difficult. Although no routine screening programs currently exist, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with esophageal biopsy remains the gold standard diagnostic test. Several therapies are available, such as endoscopic therapy, chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy, and esophagectomy. The overall 5 year survival rate in the United States ranges from 19% to 47%, depending on the staging of the disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Thoracic Surgery and Thoracic Oncology, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    P. R. Boshier, A. Wirsching & Donald E. Low

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  1. P. R. Boshier
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  2. A. Wirsching
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Correspondence to Donald E. Low .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nebraska Medical Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

    Dmitry Oleynikov

  2. Harvard Medical School, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA

    P. Marco Fisichella

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Boshier, P.R., Wirsching, A., Low, D.E. (2018). Esophageal Cancer. In: Oleynikov, D., Fisichella, P. (eds) A Mastery Approach to Complex Esophageal Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75795-7_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75795-7_13

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