Cancer - esophagus

When esophageal cancer is only in the esophagus and has not spread, surgery is the treatment of choice. The goal of surgery is to remove the cancer.

See:

• Esophagectomy
• Esophagectomy - minimally invasive

Sometimes chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination of the two may be used instead of surgery, or to make surgery easier to perform.

If the patient is too ill to have major surgery or the cancer has spread to other organs, chemotherapy or radiation may be used to help reduce symptoms. This is called palliative therapy. In such cases, the disease is usually not curable.

Other treatments that may be used to help the patient swallow include:

• Endoscopic dilation of the esophagus (sometimes with placement of a stent to keep the esophagus dilated).
• Photodynamic therapy, in which a special drug is injected into the tumor and is then exposed to light. The light activates the medicine that attacks the tumor.

Patients can often ease the stress of illness by joining a support group of people who share common experiences and problems. See cancer - support group.

Esophageal cancer is usually not curable. When the cancer has not spread outside the esophagus, surgery may improve the chances of survival.

Radiation therapy is used instead of surgery in some cases where the cancer has not spread outside the esophagus.

For patients whose cancer has spread, a cure is generally not possible. Treatment is directed toward relieving symptoms.

• Difficulty swallowing
• Pneumonia
• Severe weight loss from not eating enough
• Spread of the tumor to other areas of the body

Call your health care provider if you have difficulty swallowing with no known cause and it does not get better, or if you have other symptoms of esophageal cancer.

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Review Date: 01/31/2011
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and George F. Longstreth, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, San Diego, California. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)