Chemoradiation therapy and resection for carcinoma of the esophagus: short-term results

Screening and risk stratification for Barrett's esophagus: how to limit the clinical impact of the increasing incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma

Barrett's esophagus (BE) and gastroesophageal reflux disease are the strongest risk factors for esophageal adenocarcinoma. To reduce the clinical impact of this disease, endoscopic screening to detect BE has been proposed and nonendoscopic diagnostic techniques are under investigation. Because screening would result in new diagnoses of BE and additional costs related to endoscopic surveillance, novel tools for risk stratification are also warranted. Dysplasia is the gold standard for risk stratification. Molecular biomarkers may provide a more objective and reproducible estimation of the individual risk, and further prospective studies are required as a prelude to introducing biomarkers into routine clinical practice.

Current concepts in gastrointestinal photodynamic therapy

OBJECTIVE

To review current concepts of photodynamic therapy (PDT) applied to the treatment of tumors of the gastrointestinal tract.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA

PDT initially involves the uptake or production of a photosensitive compound by tumor cells. Subsequent activation of the photoreactive compound by a specific wavelength of light results in cell death, either directly or as a result of vascular compromise and/or apoptosis.

METHODS

The authors selectively review current concepts relating to photosensitization, photoactivation, time of PDT application, tissue selectivity, sites of photodynamic action, PDT effects on normal tissue, limitations of PDT, toxicity of photosensitizers, application of principles of PDT to tumor detection, and current applications of PDT to tumors of the gastrointestinal tract.

RESULTS

PDT is clearly effective for small cancers, but it is not yet clear in which cases such treatment is more effective than other currently acceptable approaches. The major side effect of PDT is cutaneous photosensitization. The major limitation of PDT is depth of tumor kill. As data from current and future clinical trials become available, a clearer perspective of where PDT fits in the treatment of cancers will be gained. Many issues regarding pharmacokinetic data of photosensitizers, newer technology involved in light sources, optimal treatment regimens that take advantage of the pharmacophysiology of photoablation, and light dosimetry still require solution. One can foresee application of differing sensitizers and light sources depending on the specific clinical situation. As technologic advances occur, interstitial PDT may have significant application.

CONCLUSIONS

PDT has a potentially important role either as a primary or adjuvant mode of treatment of tumors of the gastrointestinal tract.

Management for patients with advanced T4 epidermoid carcinoma of the esophagus

Available data concerning the treatment of patients with advanced T4 esophageal carcinoma are limited. A consecutive series of 42 patients with advanced T4M0 epidermoid carcinoma of the esophagus were studied from June 1987 to July 1992. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of various therapeutic modalities, and further evaluate the therapeutic options. The various therapeutic modalities included the following: Group I, feeding jejunostomy or endoesophageal intubation, 6 patients; Group II, palliative subtotal esophagectomy only, 8 patients; Group III, bypass procedures without tumor resection, 9 patients; Group IV, nutritional support and then treatment with irradiation (n=8) or concurrent radio-chemotherapy (n=4), 12 patients; Group V, subtotal esophagectomy, followed by aggressive concurrent radiochemotherapy, 7 patients. The total prescribed irradiation dose was 60 Gy (10 Gy/5 fractions/week). A combination regimen of chemotherapy consisted of cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin (PFL regimen). For the patients undergoing esophagectomy or bypass procedures (n=24), the rates of operative complication and mortality were 45.8% and 25%, respectively. Side effects of adjuvant therapy (n=24) consisted of main airway irritation (100%), mucositis or gastrointestinal symptoms (83.3%), hematologic toxicity (79.2%), esophagitis or gastric ulcer (62.5%), alopecia (37.5%), and pneumonia (20.8%). The mortality due to toxicity of adjuvant therapy was 21.1% (4/19 patients). The mean survival times for each of the different groups was 1.9+/-0.5 months for Group I, 4.8+/-1.6 months for Group II, 5.2+/-1.2 months for Group III, 7.3+/-2.0 months for Group IV, and 20.3+/-2.5 months for Group V, respectively. Compared with patients of Groups I--IV, the Group V patients had a significantly superior one-year survival rate (P<0.01). Our results demonstrated that esophagectomy followed by concurrent irradiation and PFL combination chemotherapy may provide a significant improvement in the quality of life and survival for appropriate patients with advanced T4M0 epidermoid carcinoma of the esophagus. Furthermore, more than one cycle of PFL regimen chemotherapy may result in a better prognosis. During the performance of such an aggressive treatment, the utmost care must be taken with the patient's nutrition and to prevent pulmonary complications.

Adjuvant therapies for cancer of the thoracic esophagus

During the past four decades, especially in recent years, various active adjuvant therapies combined with surgery have improved the outcome in cases of cancer of the esophagus. However, no optimum adjuvant therapy has been determined. From 1981 to 1992, 341 patients with regional and distant node metastasis who underwent curative surgery were treated with postoperative radiotherapy (RT), postoperative radiochemotherapy (RC), and postoperative aggressive chemotherapy (AGC) in a controlled study in our department of surgery. Five-year survival rates, including operative deaths and unrelated diseases of the former group, were 0% for RT, 19.9% for surgery alone, 39.8% for RC, and 48.2% for AGC. Such rates for the latter group were 6.8% for AGC, 13.3% for surgery alone, and 33.3% for RC. In addition, results of a group study on the effectiveness of three-field node dissection in 715 cases of thoracic esophageal carcinoma by 10 institutions were analyzed. This analysis showed that there were no differences in the 5-year survival rate of curative surgery in cases with positive nodes among the groups treated with surgery alone (SA), with postoperative radiotherapy (PR), and with postoperative chemotherapy (PC). As to the 91 cases with positive cervical nodes, the 3-year survival rates in cases treated with SA (n = 22), PR (n = 20), and PC (n = 49) were 25.3%, 48.1%, and 53.6%, respectively; a significant improvement of survival in these patients. Summaries of studies of preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy, and both multimodal therapies are introduced.

Neoadjuvant therapy for squamous cell esophageal carcinoma

A number of studies have demonstrated that preoperative chemotherapy (CTx) and combination radiochemotherapy (RTx/CTx) in patients with potentially resectable and locally advanced squamous cell esophageal carcinoma is feasible. In patients with potentially resectable tumors, neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgical resection has, however, so far not shown an increase in the resection rate, rate of complete macroscopic and microscopic tumor resections, i.e. R0-resections according to the UICC, or survival time as compared to patients who had surgical resection alone. In this situation a survival benefit, if at all, can be expected only in those who respond to preoperative therapy. At the present time preoperative CTx or RTx/CTx in patients with potentially resectable esophageal carcinoma must therefore be considered investigational and should not be performed outside the context of clinical trials. In patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma, neoadjuvant therapy markedly increases the rate of R0-resections and appears to prolong survival. Combined modality therapy in this context is, however, associated with a substantial perioperative mortality and morbidity. Open questions that have to be addressed by randomized studies include the role, extent and timing of surgical resection in the combined modality approach to patients with locally advanced squamous cell esophageal carcinoma. Research has to focus on preoperative staging modalities and the development of more effective and less toxic preoperative therapy regimen to improve identification of patients that might benefit from combined modality therapy and to more effectively combat systemic recurrences.

Will multimodality therapy solve the enigma of long-term survival for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus?

Squamous carcinoma of the esophagus is a disease with a poor prognosis which fortunately occurs seldom in the United States. Because patients present with more advanced disease here, surgical therapy has not equaled results reported from Asia. Although, claims of equality have appeared in the literature, radiation therapy alone has not been very effective for this disease. There are a myriad of small reports which extol a variety of combined approaches. Based upon a review of these series it is obvious that a Phase III trial is required to establish the best multimodality therapy for management of squamous carcinoma of the esophagus. Components of such a trial are reviewed and suggestions are made for design and reporting of such a trial.

Prolonged chemotherapy for localised squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus

We evaluated the feasibility of six courses of chemotherapy in 34 consecutive patients with localised squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus. All 32 evaluable patients first received at least two courses of chemotherapy. There were 18 patients with resectable carcinomas who underwent surgery and 14 patients with unresectable carcinomas who received definitive chemoradiotherapy. After two courses of 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin 21 (66%) of 32 patients had either a complete or major response. A median of five courses (range, 1-6 courses) was administered. 17 out of 18 (94%) patients with resectable carcinoma had a 'curative' resection (negative proximal, distal, and radial margins by histopathology in an en-block resection specimen) and 2 patients had a complete pathological response. The median survival duration of all patients was 28 months (range, 2-46+ months). The median survival duration of 14 patients with unresectable carcinoma was 23 months (range, 8-36+ months), and the median survival duration of 18 patients with resectable carcinoma has not been reached at a median follow-up of 24+ months (range, 10+ to 46+ months). No deaths occurred because of chemotherapy or chemoradiation therapy. Our data suggest that prolonged chemotherapy is feasible in patients with locoregional squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus. An ongoing controlled trial will determine the contribution of chemotherapy to patients' survival.

Surgical therapy of oesophageal carcinoma

During the past 10 years, postoperative mortality associated with surgical treatment of oesophageal carcinoma has been reduced by one-half. However, it appears that all efforts to improve long-term survival with extensive excisional procedures and adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy have failed. Fifty-six of 100 patients presenting to the surgeon with an oesophageal carcinoma have resectable disease. Recent studies suggest that seven of them will die from postoperative complications and 49 patients will be discharged from the hospital after an average of 3 weeks. Of these patients, 27 will survive the first, 12 the second, and ten the fifth year. Although it may be possible to further reduce postoperative complications and mortality, the chances of improving the long-term prognosis of patients with oesophageal carcinoma seem small.

Distal-end esophagostomy of the excluded esophagus in the palliation of upper and mid-esophageal carcinoma

The gastric bypass of the excluded esophagus in the palliative treatment of carcinoma of the esophagus carries a considerable mortality. One of the most significant events that contributes to this mortality is the disruption of the distal closure of the excluded esophagus. In order to avoid this, a distal-end esophagostomy accompanying the gastric bypass procedure was created in six patients with advanced carcinoma of the upper and middle third of the esophagus. This distal esophagostomy is carried out by extrapleural dissection and is developed to the back, at the level of the eighth rib, just lateral and adjacent to the spinal muscles. Operative survival of all these sick patients proves this to be a safe operation that avoids the fatal complication described.

Long-term survival after chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus

Seven patients with locally far-advanced, inoperable, squamous cell cancer of the esophagus were given two cycles of concurrent radiation and chemotherapy. Each cycle consisted of 5-fluorouracil 1,000 mg/m2/day given as a continuous intravenous infusion over 96 hours, cisplatin 75 mg/m2 given as an intravenous bolus on day 1, and methotrexate 40 mg/m2 given as an intravenous bolus on days 8 and 15. Three thousand rads of radiation were given in 15 fractions between days 1 and 19. Six patients are evaluable for response. Symptomatic relief was obtained by all six and was complete in 4. Five patients achieved a complete response, and two remain alive and disease free. Five of the six evaluable patients survived for at least 12 months. Aggressive chemoradiotherapy may result in significant survival prolongation and symptomatic palliation in this poor-prognosis subset of patients with esophageal cancer.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery of cancer of the esophagus

Neoadjuvant, or preoperative, chemotherapy for esophageal cancer has become an area of increasing interest because of the failure of conventional therapy (surgery or radiation) to improve disease-free or overall survival. Several autopsy series have demonstrated that, in many symptomatic western patients, esophageal cancer is a systemic disease. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy thus, in theory, allows a simultaneous attack on both the primary and metastatic disease. A number of single-arm, phase II multimodality trials have been completed. Toxicities of chemotherapy, while substantial, have been tolerable. With careful attention to detail, operative morbidity and mortality has not been increased. Large-scale randomized trials are needed to evaluate the impact of this technique on disease-free and overall survival.