Treatment options for esophageal cancer

Abstract

There is considerable controversy over the level of evidence from randomized trials underpinning management decisions for patients presenting with localized cancer of the esophagus and esophago-gastric junction. There is also an optimism that new drugs and new approaches, including response prediction based on sequential ¹⁸FDG-PET scanning following induction chemotherapy, may improve treatments pathways and outcomes. In this review we assess the level of evidence from the major published trials, and discuss new trials and approaches.

Keywords::

• adjuvant
• cancer
• ¹⁸FDG-PET
• neoadjuvant
• esophageal
• randomized trials
• tyrosine kinase inhibitors