RESUMEN
This study was undertaken to compare the three different radiation schedules for their efficacy in symptom relief, dysphagia free survival and radiation morbidity (if any), in carcinoma oesophagus. A total of 116 inoperable patients were prospectively randomized to three different arms of radiation. Arm-A received external beam radiation (EBRT) to a dose of 30Gy/10 #/2 weeks along with two sessions of intraluminal brachytherapy (ILBT), 600cGy each, one week apart, after a gap of two weeks from EBRT. Arm-B received only EBRT to a dose of 30Gy/10 #/2 weeks. Arm-C received EBRT to a dose of 20Gy/5#/1week without brachytherapy. The age of the patients ranged from 30 - 70 years. Improvement in dysphagia was seen in 76% of patients in Arm-A, 56% in Arm-B & 54% in Arm-C at 1 month. The dysphagia progression free survival was 10.6+0.6 months in Arm-A, 9.8+0.8 months in Arm-B and 9.9+0.6 months in Arm-C respectively. Grade 1 & 2 acute radiation toxicity was seen in 50% of patients in Arm-A, 55% patients in Arm-B & 30% patients in Arm-C. It is concluded that all the three radiation schedules achieved good palliation with similar dysphagia free survival.