Role of induction therapy in esophageal cancer.

Esophageal cancer ranks sixth among the causes of death from cancer worldwide. Patients undergoing surgery have a median survival ranging from 13 to 19 months; 2-year survival rates range from 35 to 42 percent, and 5-year survival rates from 15 to 24 percent. In particular, the 3 year survival (= SVV) is about 26%, with a median survival of 17 months. An interesting point is that about 20-25% of the patients has only locoregional involvement as pattern of failure. At least two randomized studies reported about the combined use of radiotherapy and chemotherapy as sensibilization. They assessed that patients treated with chemoradiation had a longer median survival compared to patients receiving radiation therapy alone, both in early and advanced stages. Moreover radiochemotherapy seems able of achieving high rates of downstaging and of increasing overall and disease-free survival.