| Theme | Current Status of Uprising Strategy for Esophageal Cancer Treatment | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Current Status of Chemotherapy for Advanced Esophageal Cancer | |
| Publish Date | 2011/09 | |
| Author | Masayuki Watanabe | Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University |
| Author | Yoshifumi Baba | Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University |
| Author | Masaaki Iwatsuk | Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University |
| Author | Yohei Nagai | Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University |
| Author | Yuji Miyamoto | Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University |
| Author | Hideo Baba | Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University |
| [ Summary ] | Chemotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer targets two different groups of patients. The first consists of those patients with unresectable or metastatic tumors. The second consists of those with resectable tumors. There is no evidence concerning the efficacy of chemotherapy for the former group and a standard regimen for chemotherapy for them has not been established yet. On the other hand, several clinical trials have revealed that adjuvant chemotherapy is effective for the latter group and preoperative chemotherapy is more favorable for them than postoperative chemotherapy. Currently, the standard regimen for advanced esophageal cancer is a combination of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil(FP). In Japan, neoadjuvant chemotherapy using FP is now considered to be the standard treatment for clinical stage II/III squamous cell carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus. The response rate for FP for advanced esophageal cancer has been reported to be 25-35 %. Trimodal chemotherapy consisting of docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) is expected to improve both response rates and survival times, when it is used as a neoadjuvant technique. | |