Therapy of esophageal carcinoma. Results from the Joint Group on Esophageal Carcinoma in Rotterdam.

During the period 1978-1981 172 patients were referred to the Rotterdam Joint Group on Esophageal Carcinoma. Ninety-one patients were considered for combined therapy, comprising radiation therapy and surgery, and 10 patients refused surgery. The figures given in this material are actuarial survival values corrected for intercurrent death (the actuarial overall survival in parentheses). The 4-year survival in 69 patients who completed this treatment was 39 per cent (26%) (significantly better for women compared with men; significantly better for tumors less than 2 vertebrae compared with tumors greater than or equal to 2 vertebrae). The resectability rate was 85 per cent and the operation mortality rate 20 per cent. Thirty-eight patients had curative radiation therapy with a 4-year corrected survival of 5 per cent (3%). For palliative treatment, radiation therapy and endoscopic introduction of a Celestin tube were mostly used. The results of curative as well as of palliative treatment of esophageal carcinoma have shown improvement during the past decade compared with an earlier period.