A multi-center study funded by the National Cancer Institute involving University North Carolina School of Medicine; University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore; the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston; the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago; and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston found that comparing treatment modalities for esophageal cancer show an advantage to undergoing multimodality therapy as opposed to one type of treatment.

56 patients were studied in a randomized trial that demonstrated a longer survival advantage if treated with chemotherapy and radiation followed by surgery in the treatment of esophageal cancer. This is the first statistical study of this type with esophageal cancer. Patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation followed by surgery survived an average of 2.7 years longer than those that just had surgery without treatments.