Watkins et al

Most patients with esophageal cancer are diagnosed with locoregionally advanced disease at presentation, with an overall 5-year survival rate of 19%.¹ Clinical trials have failed to specify the optimal treatment regimen; however, a multimodal approach to therapy is considered the standard of care for patients with locoregionally advanced disease.² Most often, patients are treated with chemoradiotherapy with or without subsequent esophagectomy. Curative-intent interventions for advanced esophageal cancer are necessarily aggressive and may be associated with significant morbidity and even treatment-related mortality. Appropriate selection of patients for intervention is necessary so that those who are most likely to benefit can initiate curative-intent therapy, whereas those who are unlikely to benefit from intervention may be appropriately initiated on less toxic palliative-intent treatment. The use of positron emission tomography (PET) in esophageal cancer staging has improved the ability to detect distant disease at diagnosis,^3-7 an important factor in determining the appropriate treatment regimen and prognosis…

To read the full article, click on the PDF icon at the top of this introduction.

Most patients with esophageal cancer are diagnosed with locoregionally advanced disease at presentation, with an overall 5-year survival rate of 19%.¹ Clinical trials have failed to specify the optimal treatment regimen; however, a multimodal approach to therapy is considered the standard of care for patients with locoregionally advanced disease.² Most often, patients are treated with chemoradiotherapy with or without subsequent esophagectomy. Curative-intent interventions for advanced esophageal cancer are necessarily aggressive and may be associated with significant morbidity and even treatment-related mortality. Appropriate selection of patients for intervention is necessary so that those who are most likely to benefit can initiate curative-intent therapy, whereas those who are unlikely to benefit from intervention may be appropriately initiated on less toxic palliative-intent treatment. The use of positron emission tomography (PET) in esophageal cancer staging has improved the ability to detect distant disease at diagnosis,^3-7 an important factor in determining the appropriate treatment regimen and prognosis…

To read the full article, click on the PDF icon at the top of this introduction.

Most patients with esophageal cancer are diagnosed with locoregionally advanced disease at presentation, with an overall 5-year survival rate of 19%.¹ Clinical trials have failed to specify the optimal treatment regimen; however, a multimodal approach to therapy is considered the standard of care for patients with locoregionally advanced disease.² Most often, patients are treated with chemoradiotherapy with or without subsequent esophagectomy. Curative-intent interventions for advanced esophageal cancer are necessarily aggressive and may be associated with significant morbidity and even treatment-related mortality. Appropriate selection of patients for intervention is necessary so that those who are most likely to benefit can initiate curative-intent therapy, whereas those who are unlikely to benefit from intervention may be appropriately initiated on less toxic palliative-intent treatment. The use of positron emission tomography (PET) in esophageal cancer staging has improved the ability to detect distant disease at diagnosis,^3-7 an important factor in determining the appropriate treatment regimen and prognosis…

To read the full article, click on the PDF icon at the top of this introduction.