Abstract
In a series of 82 patients with epidermoid carcinoma of the esophagus, 68 were available for review of barium examinations and 44 for review of CT examinations showing the effect of preoperative treatment. After 3 courses of chemotherapy — Cisplatinum and 5-fluorouracil, and 24 Gy of presurgical irradiation — over a total of 10.5 weeks, the patients were ready for surgery. The results of the presurgical radiographic examinations were compared with the findings of histopathologic studies after surgery. Where both the CT and the barium examination showed a complete response, none of the patients had remaining macroscopic cancer. When healing with stenosis was included, CT and barium studies in combination were necessary to exclude a residual macroscopic tumor. Therefore, a combination of barium esophagography and CT is recommended to estimate the preoperative effect of treatment.