Esophageal Cancer and Treatment Modalities

Esophageal cancer is eighth most common cancer worldwide with high biological aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Switching of predominant type from squamous cell carcinoma to adenocarcinoma in Western population, ethnic discrepancies and increased occurrences have identified it as major public health problem. Though monotherapy includes – surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, optimal therapy for esophageal cancer is still debated. Treatment requires a multi-modal approach which includes chemotherapy, radiation therapy with or without surgical follow-up for most patients and chemoradiation for those with inoperable disease; endoscopic therapies, including radiofrequency ablation, endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic sub mucosal dissection for Barrett’s esophagus/ early carcinoma patients and minimally invasive surgical approaches are standards for esophagectomy. Advancement in diagnostic techniques and the multi-modal treatment approach has led to an improvement in the overall survival of esophageal cancer patients.