Carcinoma of the esophagus: an analysis of results and of treatment techniques.

Results of radiation therapy in 85 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus are presented. Whereas the majority of patients with this tumor have been shown to die within the first year, occasional patients may survive longer (21.5 percent in this series); late radiation complications must therefore be maintained at a minimum.

Primary malignant tumors of the heart.

Because of their rarity, primary malignant tumors of the heart continue to evade clinical preoperative diagnosis. In five cases of malignant heart tumor that were reviewed from the diagnostic point of view, the clinical symptoms and radiographic abnormalities were found to be similar to those produced by more common heart diseases. The diagnosis of malignant cardiac tumor should be considered in a patient with heart disease who has (1) an unusual cardiomediastinal silhouette, (2) an atypical cardiac calcification, and (3) clinical or radiographic cardipulmonary findings which do not conform to the expected behavior of the common forms of heart disease.