OBJECTIVETo investigate the prognostic factors and to analyze the efficacy of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy for Barrett's esophageal adenocarcinoma after radical surgical resection.

METHODSThe clinical data of 108 patients with adenocarcinoma Barrett's esophagus picking out from 783 esophageal adenocarcinoma patients surgically treated between June 1978 to June 2001 in the Shandong Provincial Hospital and Shandong Qianfoshan Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. 60Co gamma-irradiation or 6MVX-ray with conventional fraction were used for radiotherapy with a total volume dosage of 55-70 Gy. The chemotherapy was either FAM (iv infusion of 5-Fu 500 mg, d1-d5; ADM 50 mg d1; MMC 12 mg, d1) or CMF regimen (iv infusion of CTX 800 mg d1, d8; MTX 30 mg d1; 5-Fu 500 mg, d1-d5) for 4-6 cycles. The Kaplan-Meier amalysis was used to estimate the survival rate. Log rank test was used for comparison of the survival difference among different groups.

RESULTSIn this series, 76 of 92 patients who underwent radical surgical resection received postoperative radiotherapy alone, and 16 received radiotherapy plus chemotherapy. Twelve of the other 16 patients who underwent palliative surgical resection received chemotherapy plus radiotherapy, the remaining 4 patients died of operative complications during surgery. The overall 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rate of this series was 81.5%, 51.9% and 22.2%, respectively. In the radical resection group, it was 15.8% for the patients received radiotherapy alone versus 75.0% for those treated by chemotherapy plus radiotherapy. The 5-year survival rate was 33.3% for the patients without extra-esophageal infiltration and 33.3% for the patients without lymph node metastasis, respectively. However, it was only 9.1% for the patients with extra-esophageal infiltration and 14.3% for those with lymph node metastasis, respectively. For the patients who had palliative surgical resection, though they received chemotherapy plus radiotherapy postoperatively, none of them survived longer than 5-year. Statistically significant difference among these groups was demonstrated by Log rank test (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONChemotherapy plus radiotherapy after radical surgical resection may improve the survival of patients with adenocarcinoma in Barrett's esophagus adenocarcinoma patient. The pathological stage, extra-esophageal infiltration, lymph node metastasis and postoperative chemotherapy plus radiotherapy are important prognostic factors.