A Phase II Study of Biodegradable Stents Plus Palliative Radiotherapy in Oesophageal Cancer.

Aims: Self-expanding metal stents provide rapid improvement of dysphagia in oesophageal cancer but are associated with complications. The aim of the present study was to test the effectiveness of an alternative treatment of combining biodegradable stents with radiotherapy.

Materials And Methods: A Simon two-stage single-arm prospective phase II trial design was used to determine the efficacy of biodegradable stents plus radiotherapy in patients with dysphagia caused by oesophagus cancer who were unsuitable for radical treatment.

Hiatal Hernia After Esophagectomy for Cancer.

Background: Hiatal hernia (HH) after esophagectomy is becoming more relevant due to improvements in survival. This study evaluated and compared the occurrence and clinical course of HH after open and minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE).

Methods: The prospectively recorded characteristics of patients treated with esophagectomy for cancer at 2 tertiary referral centers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands between 2000 and 2014 were reviewed.

The Development, Application and Analysis of an Enhanced Recovery Programme for Major Oesophagogastric Resection.

Background: Enhanced recovery programmes improve outcomes in surgery, but their implementation after upper gastrointestinal resection has been limited. The aim of this study was to compare short-term outcomes for patients undergoing oesophagogastric surgery in an enhanced recovery programme (EROS).

Methods: EROS was developed after a multidisciplinary meeting by multiple rounds of revision.

Tumour infiltrating lymphocytes correlate with improved survival in patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Background: Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) is increasingly common in the west, and survival remains poor at 10-15 % at 5 years. Immune responses are increasingly implicated as a determining factor of tumour progression. The ability of lymphocytes to recognise tumour antigens provides a mechanism for a host immune attack against cancer providing a potential treatment strategy.

Refining pathological evaluation of neoadjuvant therapy for adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.

Aim: To assess tumour regression grade (TRG) and lymph node downstaging to help define patients who benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods: Two hundred and eighteen consecutive patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or gastro-esophageal junction treated with surgery alone or neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery between 2005 and 2011 at a single institution were reviewed. Triplet neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of platinum, fluoropyrimidine and anthracycline was considered for operable patients (World Health Organization performance status ≤ 2) with clinical stage T2-4 N0-1.