The addition of further chemotherapy added to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer can improve survival. When diagnosed with esophageal cancer the patient is usually given chemotherapy to shrink the tumor before surgery, it also may be accompanied by radiation. This gives a better chance that the tumor will be smaller and can be fully removed. It also is treating the body immediately with systematic therapy in case any cancer cells are circulating in the body.
The journal Cancer has published an article from researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center regarding additional chemotherapy added to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy already given to patients who have locally advanced esophageal cancer.
The study included 130 patients with esophageal cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus radiation therapy and their outcomes were compared to 117 patients who received the same treatment plus and additional course of chemotherapy (induction chemotherapy) prior to surgery.
At five years overall survival was 43 percent for those treated with the additional induction chemotherapy before surgery, compared to 28 percent for those not treated with induction chemotherapy.
The researchers concluded that the induction chemotherapy added to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy improved survival.
