Objective: To evaluate the long-term outcomes, failure patterns and prognostic factors of definitive radiotherapy in patients with cervical esophageal carcinoma (CEC). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 148 CEC patients who treated with definitive radiotherapy in Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2001 to December 2017. The median radiation dose was 66 Gy (59.4-70 Gy) and 33.1% of patients received concurrent chemotherapy. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival rates. The log rank test was used for survival comparison and univariate prognostic analysis. The Cox model was used for multivariate prognostic analysis. Results: The median follow-up time was 102.6 months. The median survival time, 2- and 5-year overall survival (OS) were 22.7 months, 49.9% and 28.3%. The median, 2- and 5-year progression-free survival were 12.6 months, 35.8% and 25.8%. The 2- and 5-year locoregional recurrence-free survival were 59.1% and 50.8%. The 2- and 5-year distant metastases-free survival were 74.6% and 65.9%. Multivariate analysis showed that EQD(2)>66 Gy was the only independent prognostic indicator for OS (P=0.040). The median survival time and 5-year OS rate significantly improved in patients who received EQD(2)>66 Gy than those who received≤66 Gy (31.2 months vs. 19.2 months, 40.1% vs. 19.1%, P=0.027). A total of 87 patients (58.8%) developed tumor progression. There were 50 (33.8%), 23 (15.5%) and 39 (26.4%) patients developed local, regional recurrence and distant metastases, respectively. Eleven patients (7.4%) underwent salvage surgery, and the laryngeal preservation rate for entire group was 93.9%. Conclusions: Definitive radiotherapy is an effective treatment for cervical esophageal carcinoma with the advantage of larynx preservation. Local recurrence is the major failure pattern. EQD(2)>66 Gy is associated with the improved overall survival.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Esophageal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Carcinoma/drug therapy* ; Prognosis ; Treatment Outcome ; Chemoradiotherapy/methods* ; Radiotherapy Dosage

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of adjuvant treatment for curatively resected thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and determine the optimal adjuvant treatments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred ninety-five patients who underwent a curative resection for thoracic ESCC between 1994 and 2014 were reviewed retrospectively. Postoperatively, the patients received no adjuvant treatment (no-adjuvant group, n=68), adjuvant chemotherapy (AC group, n=62), radiotherapy (RT group, n=41), or chemoradiotherapy (CRT group, n=24). Chemotherapy comprised cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil administration every 3 weeks. The median RT dose was 45.0 Gy (range, 34.8 to 59.4 Gy). The overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), locoregional recurrence (LRR), and distant metastasis (DM) rates were estimated. RESULTS: At a median follow-up duration of 42.2 months (range, 6.3 to 215.2 months), the 5-year OS and DFS were 37.6% and 31.4%, respectively. After adjusting for other clinicopathologic variables, the AC and CRT groups had a significantly better OS and DFS compared to the no-adjuvant group (p < 0.05). The LRR rate was significantly lower in the RT and CRT groups than in the no-adjuvant group (p < 0.05), whereas no significant difference was observed in the AC group. In the no-adjuvant and AC groups, 25% of patients received high-dose salvage RT due to LRR. The DM rates were similar. The anastomotic stenosis and leakage were similar in the treatment groups. CONCLUSION: Adjuvant treatment might prolong survival after an ESCC resection, and RT contributes to a reduction of the LRR. Overall, the risks and benefits should be weighed properly when selecting the optimal adjuvant treatment.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Cisplatin ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Epithelial Cells* ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Fluorouracil ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiotherapy* ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Assessment

Solitary renal metastasis of esophageal cancer is rarely encountered. Herein, we report the case of a 47-year-old man who developed a solitary renal metastasis after concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by esophagectomy with esophagogastrostomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and treatment with nephrectomy and subsequent chemotherapy. Histopathological evaluation after operation revealed that the kidney mass was a metastatic lesion from esophageal cancer. He completed 15 cycles of palliative chemotherapy after nephrectomy and remained cancer-free for 36 months. Although lymph node metastasis occurred during regular follow-up, no evidence of lymph node metastasis was found on the imaging study after 9 cycles of chemotherapy with radiotherapy.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemoradiotherapy ; Drug Therapy ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Esophagectomy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Lymph Nodes ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Nephrectomy ; Radiotherapy

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) of the esophagus are extremely rare, aggressive and have a poor prognosis. Combined therapy using chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgery appear effective. Here, we present a patient with a complaint of dysphagia who was diagnosed with this rare tumor. Upper gastrointestinal endoscope of a 46-year-old female revealed a localized ulcerative lesion in the middle esophagus. Histologic exam of biopsy specimens indicated a neuroendocrine carcinoma. The tumor cells were arranged in microtubular structures, with small and round cells containing scanty cytoplasm. They were positive for synaptophysin and chromogranin A on immunohistochemical staining. A computed tomography scan showed an esophageal tumor with enlarged superior mediastinal lymph nodes and about 1.2 cm sized liver metastasis, similar to findings in PET-CT scanning. The patient was prescribed chemotherapy consisting of etoposide and cisplatin, which led to regression of disease on follow-up imaging study. She continues under clinical observation. We seek to increase awareness of this exceedingly rare but hazardous disease by sharing our unexpected finding.
Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine ; Chromogranin A ; Cisplatin ; Cytoplasm ; Deglutition Disorders ; Drug Therapy ; Endoscopes, Gastrointestinal ; Endoscopy ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagus ; Etoposide ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Liver ; Lymph Nodes ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neuroendocrine Tumors* ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Synaptophysin ; Ulcer

OBJECTIVETo assess the effect of Qingfei Quyu Decoction (QQD) in preventing radiation pneumonitis in esophageal carcinoma patients by concurrent using it with chemoradiotherapy.

METHODSA total of 120 patients with mid-late stage esophageal carcinoma were randomly assigned to the treatment group (60 cases) and the control group (60 cases). All patients received concurrent radiochemotherapy. Patients in the treatment group additionally took QQD, one dose per day for 8 successive weeks. The incidence of radiation pneunonitis was compared between the two groups. The improvement rates of short-term benefit rate, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS), and body weight (BW) improvement rate were calculated between the two groups. The 1-and 2-year overall survival rates were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe incidence of radiation pneunonitis was 8.93% (15/56) in the treatment group and 18.64% (11/59) in the control group (P < 0.05). The short-term benefit rate was 92.86% (52/56) in the treatment group and 69.49% (41/59) in the control group (P < 0.05). Besides, the KPS and BW improvement rate were higher in the treatment group [89.29% (50/56) and 83.05% (49/59) ] than in the control group [80.36% (45/56) and 66.10% (39/59)] (P < 0.05). The 1-and 2-year overall survival rate were 66.07% and 35.71% in the treatment group, higher than those of the control group (61.02% and 30.51%; P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONConcurrent using QQD with chemoradiotherapy for treating esophageal carcinoma patients could lower the incidence of radiation pneumonitis, attenuate the degree of radiation induced lung injury, improve clinical benefit rate, and elevate their QOL.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemoradiotherapy ; adverse effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Humans ; Radiation Pneumonitis ; prevention & control ; Survival Rate

We report of a patient with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and stomach from lung cancer. The patient was a 68-year-old man receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy for stage IV lung cancer, without metastases to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract at the time of the initial diagnosis. During the treatment period, dysphagia and melena newly developed. Upper GI endoscopy revealed geographic erosion at the distal esophagus and multiple volcano-shaped ulcers on the stomach body. Endoscopic biopsy was performed for each lesion. To determine whether the lesions were primary esophageal and gastric cancer masses or metastases from the lung cancer, histopathological testing including immunohistochemical staining was performed, and metastasis from lung cancer was confirmed. The disease progressed despite chemotherapy, and the patient died 5 months after the diagnosis of lung cancer. This is a case report of metastatic adenocarcinoma in the esophagus and stomach, which are very rare sites of spread for lung cancer.
Adenocarcinoma ; Aged ; Biopsy ; Deglutition Disorders ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Endoscopy ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Esophagus ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Melena ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Radiotherapy ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Ulcer

PURPOSE: We report the outcomes of patients treated with palliative radiotherapy (pRT) to the primary tumour in the context of well-controlled metastatic disease after initial chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical records of 132 patients with metastatic esophago-gastric (OG) cancer treated with palliative chemotherapy (pCT) between January 2009 and June 2013 were reviewed. Ninetyseven patients had responding or stable disease after 3 months of chemotherapy, of whom 53 patients received pRT to the primary tumour after initial chemotherapy in the presence of well-controlled metastatic disease (group A, pCT-RT). The remaining 44 patients were treated with pCT alone (group B, pCT). Treatment-related outcomes were assessed in above groups including time to local progression (TTLP), progression-free and overall survival. RESULTS: The median overall survival for patients treated with pRT after initial chemotherapy (group A) was 23.3 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.70 to 28.89 months) and significantly higher than the 14 months (95% CI, 10.91 to 17.08 months) in patients treated with pCT alone (group B) (p < 0.001). The use of pCT-RT was an independent predictor of OS in multivariate analysis. Local recurrence was observed in 12/53 of patients (23%) in group A compared to 16/44 (36%) in group B. The median TTLP was significantly higher in patients after pCT-RT at 17.3 months (5.23 months to 44.50 months) compared to 8.3 months (range, 4.10 to 25.23 months) in patients treated with pCT alone (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: The possibility of pRT influencing systemic disease in advanced OG cancer has not been reported, and results from the present study present strong arguments for investigation of this therapeutic strategy in a randomized trial.
Drug Therapy* ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Humans ; Multivariate Analysis ; Palliative Care ; Radiotherapy* ; Recurrence ; Stomach Neoplasms*

To assess the clinical effect and safety of Chinese traditional medicine injection combined with radiotherapy for esophageal cancer. The relative randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Chinese medical injections (CMI) combined with radiotherapy as well as simple radiotherapy for esophageal cancer were searched from PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database(CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database and VIP Database as at September 2014. Two researchers completed the data extraction and quality evaluation independently. The data were analyzed by GeMTC 0.14.3 and Stata 12. 0 software. Finally, 43 RCTs involving 3 289 patients were finally included. The star network was constructed by different comparison groups. The results of network meta-analysis showed that the seven CMIs combined with radiotherapy was superior to simple radiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer in efficacy, quality of life, and reduction in the incidence of nausea and leucopenia, but with no significant difference among the seven CMIs. Probability ranking result showed a great possibility for Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections in improving the overall response rate and quality of life, which were followed by cinobufagin and kangai injections. However, only one study was included for Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections. Therefore, cinobufagin or kangai injections were preferred in improving the overall response rate and quality of life. Aidi or compound sophora injections were better than other CMIs in reducing? the incidences of nausea (III-IV) and leukopenia. More RCTs of Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections combined with radiotherapy for patients with esophageal cancer were expected in the future to confirm our results. Moreover, study findings will be reported, particularly for the adverse events in radiotherapy for esophageal cancer.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo retrospectively compare the efficacy of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) alone with that of postoperative radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy (CRT) for thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (EPC) with positive lymph nodes, and to evaluate the clinical value of RT + CRT.

METHODS304 EPC patients underwent esophagectomy with three-field lymph node dissection had pathological lymph node metastases, but no hematogenous distant metastasis. Among them, 140 cases underwent postoperative RT alone, and 164 cases underwent postoperative CRT. The dose of irradiation was 50 Gy, and the chemotherapy regimen was taxol and cis-platinum, and a cycle was 21 days.

RESULTSThe 1-, 3- and 5-year total survival rates of the whole group were 90.1%, 56.6% and 43.3%, respectively, with a median survival time of 49.7 months. The 5-year overall survival rates of the CRT and RT groups were 47.4% and 38.6%, respectively (P = 0.030), with a median survival time of 53.5 and 41.7 months, respectively (P = 0.030). The overall survival rates of the patients who underwent 1, 2, 3, 4 cycles of chemotherapy were 24.4%, 53.0%, 58.1% and 43.3%, respectively (P = 0.007). Among them, the 5-year total survival rate of patients with 2-4 cycles of chemotherapy was significantly better than that of patients who underwent one cycle of chemotherapy (P = 0.001). Univariate analysis showed that number of metastatic lymph nodes, pT stage, therapeutic regimen and number of chemotherapy cycles were significantly correlated with the prognosis of the patients (P < 0.05 for all). Multivariate analysis showed that number of metastatic lymph nodes, pT stage, and number of chemotherapy cycles were independent prognostic factors of the patients (P < 0.05 for all). Early toxic effects including neutropenia, radiation esophagitis, and gastrointestinal effects were significantly more severe in the CRT group than that in the RT group (P < 0.05), however, there were no significant differences of late toxic effects between the two groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPostoperative CRT for thoracic EPC with positive lymph nodes can improve the survival rate, with tolerable adverse effects.

Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; drug therapy ; pathology ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Chemoradiotherapy ; adverse effects ; Cisplatin ; administration & dosage ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Esophagectomy ; Esophagitis ; etiology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymphatic Irradiation ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neutropenia ; chemically induced ; etiology ; Paclitaxel ; administration & dosage ; Particle Accelerators ; Postoperative Period ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVETo analyze the prognostic factors for esophageal carcinoma patients with stump carcinoma and atypical hyperplasia after esophagectomy.

METHODSFrom August 2006 to December 2010, 182 esophageal carcinoma patients with stump carcinoma and atypical hyperplasia after esophagectomy treated in our hospital were involved in this study, including 60 cases with grade I-II atypical hyperplasia, 23 cases with grade III atypical hyperplasia, 37 cases with carcinoma in situ, and 62 cases with invasive carcinoma. Prognostic factors for these patients were analyzed.

RESULTSThe 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-year locoregional control rates of these 182 patients were 77.1%, 63.3%, 60.3% and 60.3%, respectively, and the over-all cumulative survival rates were 78.6%, 63.9%, 46.3% and 41.0%, respectively. A total of 56 cases suffered from locoregional recurrence (56/182, 30.8%), including anastomotic recurrence and lymph node metastasis. The number of locoregional recurrence patients of grade I-II of atypical hyperplasia was 13(13/60, 21.7%), grade III atypical hyperplasia and carcinoma in situ 21 (21/60, 35.0%), and invasive carcinoma 22 (22/62, 35.5%). There were no significant differences among the three groups(χ(2) = 3.485, P = 0.175). There were significant differences in locoregional control rate and survival rate among the four treatment groups (P < 0.05). For patients with stump grade I∼II atypical hyperplasia and different stage positive stump margin, the 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-year survival rates of the four treatment groups had significant differences (P < 0.05). As for locoregional control rates, there were no significant differences in the four groups (P > 0.05). Univariate analysis showed that tumor length, depth of invasion, number of metastatic lymph nodes, number of lymph node metastatic fields, pTNM stage, stump pathological grade and treatment modality were main influencing factors for survival rate (P < 0.05);invasion depth, stump pathological grade and treatment modality were important factors for locoregional control. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that tumor length, number of metastatic lymph nodes, stump pathological grade and treatment modality were independent influencing factors for survival (all P < 0.05);invasion depth, stump pathological grade and treatment modality were independent influencing factors for locoregional control (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSFor the patients with stump carcinoma and atypical hyperplasia after esophagectomy, tumor length, number of metastatic lymph nodes, stump pathological grade and treatment modality are independent influencing factors for long-term survival, and invasion depth, stump pathological grade and treatment modality are independent influencing factors for locoregional control.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ; therapeutic use ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; surgery ; Esophagectomy ; Esophagus ; pathology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Grading ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neoplasm, Residual ; drug therapy ; pathology ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Postoperative Period ; Survival Rate