BMJ 1994;308:1249-1250 (14 May)

Editorials

New approaches to treating oesophageal cancer

Currently the prognosis for patients with oesophageal cancer is poor. On the basis of a review of 122 articles published between 1954 and 1978 Earlam and Cunha-Melo estimated that of 100 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus, 58 had exploratory surgery, of whom 39 had surgical resection and 26 left the hospital with their tumours excised. Eighteen patients were alive at one year, nine at two years, and four at five years.1 The reasons for such poor surgical results include inadequate preoperative staging and the morbidity and mortality of treatment. The most important explanation, however, is that most cases of oesophageal cancer have metastasised by the time that symptoms develop.2

Squamous cell carcinoma has been the predominant histological subtype,3 but the incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma is now rising in Britain4 and the United States.5 Although resectability and survival for both histological types are similar,6 reports of their relative . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Treatment of oesophageal cancer
Fayek Salama, David Beggs, and Ellis Morgan
BMJ 1994 309: 125-126. [Extract] [Full Text]

Patients are unwilling to enter randomised trials
T C B Dehn
BMJ 1994 309: 126. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Forgacs, I. (1995). Recent Advances: Clinical gastroenterology. BMJ 310: 113-116 [Full text]  
  • Donnelly, R J, Girling, D J, Fayers, P M (1994). Cancer of the upper gastrointestinal tract. BMJ 308: 1716-1717 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Oesophageal Cancer Clinical Trials
Abd H Mat Sain
bmj.com, 19 Apr 2003 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ