Esophageal Cancer

Data presented at the 2021 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium found that health-related quality of life was steady and similar over the course of 18 weeks for patients receiving chemotherapy with or without pembrolizumab for esophageal cancer.

In addition to a concerning trend of increased rates of esophageal adenocarcinoma noted over the last 4 decades, this study also found that the proportion of those with advanced disease at presentation continues to rise for patients younger than age 50.

Researchers look at cost estimates stratified by stage, histology, and level of treatment.

Pembrolizumab showed promise in the second-line setting for patients with metastatic esophageal cancer and high PD-L1 expression.

A large pooled analysis of individuals with advanced esophageal cancer showed men and women have different side effects to chemotherapy.

A new study adds to evidence examining whether neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus surgery improves survival vs surgery alone in locally advanced ESCC.

As part of our coverage of the 2018 GI Cancers Symposium, we discussed the role of locoregional therapies for patients with metastatic esophageal and gastric cancers.

First-line ramucirumab in combination with chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, according to results of the RAINFALL trial.

Patients assigned to robot-assisted minimally invasive thoraco-laparoscopic esophagectomy had fewer overall, surgery-related, and cardiopulmonary complications compared with open transthoracic esophagectomy, according to the results of the ROBOT trial.

Treatment with the anti–PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab resulted in durable antitumor activity with manageable side effects in patients with heavily pretreated, PD-L1–positive advanced esophageal carcinoma, according to phase IB results of the KEYNOTE-028 study.

Treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy improved the overall survival of locally advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma in patients treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy and resection, according to the results of an analysis of the National Cancer Database.

The use of hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy reduced postoperative morbidity in patients with esophageal cancers, according to the results of the MIRO trial.

Use of the EGFR inhibitor cetuximab with chemoradiation did not improve survival in patients with esophageal carcinoma compared with chemoradiation alone, according to the results of the phase III RTOG 0436 trial.

Nurse practitioners play a central role in helping patients with esophageal cancer understand and manage their disease and treatment complications.

A novel calculator can more easily identify which esophageal adenocarcinoma patients derive an overall survival benefit from neoadjuvant chemoradiation to help guide treatment choices.

Overweight individuals in early adulthood who gained additional weight to become obese later in life are at an increased risk for esophageal and gastric cardia adenocarcinomas.

Using PET scans during induction chemotherapy for esophageal cancer, researchers were able to assess patient response to treatment and adjust their therapy, leading to an improved rate of pathologic complete response prior to surgery.

Lymph node status after undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy and resection of esophagogastric cancer was the only independent predictor of survival.

Results of a new Swedish study have shown that a surgeon needed to perform at least 15 esophagectomies in cancer patients in order to achieve stable survival results in the first months after the operation.

The addition of lapatinib to capecitabine/oxaliplatin did not prolong overall survival among patients with previously untreated HER2-amplified gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

This comprehensive guide for oncologists covers the diagnosis, staging, treatment, and management of esophageal cancer.

Long-term results of the CROSS study have confirmed that neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy added to surgery should be the standard of care in esophageal or esophagogastric junction carcinoma.

A retrospective analysis found that high expression levels of two angiogenic factors were associated with poor prognosis in esophageal cancer.

The FDA approved ramucirumab (Cyramza) in combination with paclitaxel for treating patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Measuring expression of several microRNAs were significantly predictive of complete pathologic response to treatment in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma.

The stage of esophageal adenocarcinomas after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is predictive of outcomes, rather than the stage determined prior to therapy.

New research has identified specific gene mutations that occur in precancerous esophageal lesions, a finding which was then put into use with a simple non-endoscopic test.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy did not improve resection rates or survival outcomes in patients with early-stage, locally advanced esophageal cancer.

Preoperative staging of esophageal cancer with PET/MR is approximately as good as with endoscopic ultrasound, and may improve slightly over ultrasound and PET/CT scans, according to a new study.

Until anatomic staging and physiologic prediction models improve, induction therapy serves as a useful crutch that can mitigate the weaknesses in both of these important preoperative tasks.