Multimodal Treatment for Cancer of the Esophagus

Abstract

There are about 500,000 new cases of cancer of the esophagus and 400,000 esophageal cancer-related deaths recorded annually around the world. The disease is three to four times more frequent in men than in women, being the sixth most common cancer and the ifth most frequent cancer-related death among men. The prognosis of esophageal cancer is quite poor, despite advances in surgical procedures (two-ield and three-ield lymph node dissection) and perioperative management, which is still controversial. The use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in combination with surgery might be a new approach for future treatment. Progress in optical technology has led to the development of a new minimally invasive surgical approach for the treatment of esophageal cancer, namely esophagectomy.