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The role of chemotherapy in the treatment of squamous cell tumors of the esophagus

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Cancer Chemotherapy: Concepts, Clinical Investigations and Therapeutic Advances

Part of the book series: Cancer Treatment and Research ((CTAR,volume 42))

Abstract

While chemotherapy directed against esophageal cancer has been the subject of numerous investigations over the past decade, its role as an important modality in the treatment of this disease remains controversial [1, 2]. The accepted “standard” therapies, surgery and radiation are, of course, directed at the primary disease. The rationale for this aggressive local therapy is that 85%–90% of all patients presenting with squamous cell cancer of the esophagus are dead within 12 months with local complications: inanition, dehydration, and massive aspiration due to tracheoesophageal fistulae. This chapter shows, however, that recent trials have indicated that chemotherapy may well have its strongest impact on the primary tumor in the esophagus. The ability to kill local tumor within the esophagus is less in doubt with systemic treatment of chemotherapy than the impact on that therapy on the overall survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (SCCE).

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Authors
  1. Lawrence Leichman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern California Cancer Center, 1441 Eastlake Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90033, USA

    F. M. Muggia

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Leichman, L. (1989). The role of chemotherapy in the treatment of squamous cell tumors of the esophagus. In: Muggia, F.M. (eds) Cancer Chemotherapy: Concepts, Clinical Investigations and Therapeutic Advances. Cancer Treatment and Research, vol 42. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1747-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1747-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8981-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1747-0

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