Affiliation:
1. Department of Surgery, Llandough Hospital, Penarth, South Glamorgan
Abstract
Summary
An analysis of the biology of cancer of the oesophagus suggests that significant dissemination may not have taken place at the time of diagnosis in approximately one-third of cases. Positive nodal histology in the mediastinum or abdomen is the best available evidence of disseminated disease. Patients without such nodal involvement there-fore represent a group in whom the disease is most likely to be localized. It is suggested that only these patients be subjected to aggressive local therapy. The effects of no treatment, ortho- and megavoltage radiotherapy, surgery and combinations of surgery and radiotherapy are reviewed. The need for cooperative randomized clinical trials to test the biological hypothesis outlined is discussed. Megavoltage radiotherapy as a primary treatment for oesophageal cancer followed by radical surgery in those patients without evidence of dissemination from nodal histology is proposed as a basis for such clinical trials.
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Reference70 articles.
1. Carcinoma of the oesophagus, the case for surgical excision;Collis;Lancet,1957
2. The value of radiotherapy in the management of oesophageal cancer;Pearson;AJR,1969
3. Cancer of the oesophagus: 1002 cases. I. Survey and survival;Cederquist;Acta Chir. Scand.,1978
4. Cancer of the oesophagus. II. Therapy and outcome;Cederquist;Acta Chir. Scand.,1978
5. The present status and future potential of radiotherapy in the management of oesophageal cancer;Pearson;Cancer,1977
Cited by
20 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献