Neoadjuvant Treatment for Esophageal Cancer
摘要
Because the conflicting data currently available from the performed randomized trials it is very difficult to provide strict guidelines for the treatment of patients with locoregional advanced esophageal cancers. Surgery however, remains the standard of care for potentially resectable disease. Preoperative chemotherapy is still controversial with two large randomized trials resulting in two different conclusions regarding the survival benefit. Preoperative chemoradiation is also controversial since only one randomized trial showed a clear survival benefit however, the patients treated with surgery alone in this trial had an unusually poor outcome. And the study by Urba et al was not powered enough to show a clear survival benefit for patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation. The results of three metaanalysis of these randomized studies show lower rate of resection, higher rate of R0-resection, more often postoperative mortality and better prognosis for patients with neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy. As a consequence one may consider offering neoadjuvant chemotherapy or neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy to patients with locallyadvanced disease under the premise that patients have a good performance status and understand the controversies about this therapeutic option. Larger trials with sufficient power to clearly detect survival benefits for patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy or radiochemotherapy are necessary before this therapeutic option will be the standard of care.