Treatment of Esophageal Cancer Patient Information

Treatment Option Overview

How cancer of the esophagus is treated

There are treatments for all patients with cancer of the esophagus. Three kinds of treatment are used:

• surgery (taking out the cancer in an operation)
  
• radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays to kill cancer cells)
  
• chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells)
  

Surgery is the most common treatment for cancer of the esophagus. A doctor may remove the esophagus in an operation called an esophagectomy. The doctor will connect the remaining healthy part of the esophagus to the stomach so the patient can still swallow. A plastic tube or part of the intestine may sometimes be used to make the connection. The doctor may also remove lymph nodes around the esophagus and look at them under a microscope to see if they contain cancer.

Radiation therapy uses x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation may come from a machine outside the body (external radiation therapy) or from putting materials that contain radiation through thin plastic tubes (internal radiation therapy) in the area where the cancer cells are found. When radiation therapy is used to treat cancer of the esophagus, a plastic tube is sometimes inserted into the esophagus to keep it open. This is called intraluminal intubation and dilation.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be taken by pill, or it may be put into the body by a needle in the vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drug enters the bloodstream, travels through the body, and can kill cancer cells throughout the body. Chemotherapy with or without radiation is being tested in clinical trials. The use of chemotherapy and radiation therapy before surgery (neoadjuvant therapy) is also being tested in clinical trials.

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