These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: [Current diagnosis and therapy of esophageal carcinoma].
    Author: Mühr-Wilkenshoff F, Stahl M, Faiss S, Zeitz M, Scherübl H.
    Journal: Z Gastroenterol; 2004 Jul; 42(7):615-21. PubMed ID: 15248111.
    Abstract:
    In Germany the incidence of esophageal cancer is 6 - 10 per 100,000. At the time of diagnosis about 75 % of the patients suffer from UICC stage III or IV esophageal cancer. Less than 10 % of patients are diagnosed with early (T1) cancer. Diagnosis and staging relies on esophagoscopy including biopsies, endoscopic ultrasonography, and computerized tomography of the chest and abdomen. Intramucosal early cancer (T1a) and high-grade dysplasia can be treated either by surgery or by endoscopic mucosal resection. Chemoradiation is the definitive treatment of choice for localized squamous cell cancer of the proximal esophagus. As far as overall survival is concerned definitive chemoradiation is not inferior to esophagectomy even in patients with localized squamous cell cancer of the middle or lower esophagus. In case of high surgical risk chemoradiation should be offered to those patients as the therapy of choice. Esophagectomy should be performed in operable patients suffering from resectable adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. Preoperative chemoradiation is recommended in locally advanced (non-resectable) adenocarcinoma. If staging reveals distant metastases, palliative therapy is indicated. Palliative chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin should be offered to patients with good performance status. Esophageal intubation (with expandable metal stents) is the palliative treatment of choice for firm stenosing, non-resectable tumors, where rapid relief of dysphagia is required.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]