ABSTRACT
This is a retrospective study of 62 patients with unresected squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus treated by radiotherapy alone (25 patients) or combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy (37 patients). Of these, 14 of 25 patients treated by radiation therapy alone and 25 of 37 patients treated by combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy completed radiotherapy consisting of 55 to 60 Gy in 5 to 6 weeks and were analyzed for local control rate and survival rate. Follow up ranged from 6 days to 58 months. Three (8%) of 39 patients had a complete response, twenty-eight(72%) a partial reponse and eight(20%) minimal or no resonse. Overall median survival was 11 months for all stages. The 1 year and 2 year actuarial survival rates were 48.6% and 13% respectively. Age and stage had prognostic significances (p<0.05, p<0.05 respectively). The 1 year survival rate was 70.1% for stage I, 47.6% for stage II, and 28.4% for stage III. The median survival was 19 months for stage I, 11 months for stage II, 6 months for stage III, and 5.5 months for stage III with distant metastases. The 1 year survival rate of patients 55 years and above was 69.6%, 54 years and below was 0%. There was no significant difference in survival rate between treatment modalities, locations of tumor, and responses of tumor.