Abstract
Esophageal cancer (EC) is a frequent and highly lethal disease associated with a considerable decline in health-related quality of life. Treatment with curative intent relies on multimodal approaches including preoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy, extensive surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy, and recent overall 5-year survival rates have reached 50%. Although EC management usually follows well-defined steps, a small number of patients consult emergency departments for acute complications such as digestive obstruction, airway involvement, bleeding, and perforation. Such complications are usually but not always associated with advanced tumors, and their emergency management needs taking into consideration both oncological issues and patients’ desiderata. Most clinicians will have limited personal experience with oncological esophageal emergencies, and in the absence of reliable guidelines, uncertainty persists about the best clinical practice. This review summarizes the available evidence in the management of these difficult situations.
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Chirica, M., Roth, G. (2023). Oncological Emergencies: Esophageal Cancer. In: Tarasconi, A., Bui, S., Chirica, M., Roth, G., Nahmias, J. (eds) Oncologic Surgical Emergencies. Hot Topics in Acute Care Surgery and Trauma. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36860-8_4
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