Strengthen perioperative multimodality treatment in order to improve long-term outcomes of esophageal cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the commonest malignancies in China. Surgery is the main treatment for ESCC. However, the long-term survival is very poor by surgery alone. Perioperative multimodality treatment, including locally and systemically administrated, preoperatively and postoperatively, has been and will be the standard treatment in terms of improving long-term survival. Base on decades of practice and clinical trials, it is believed that preoperative treatment is better than postoperative treatment, and that chemotherapy plus radiotherapy preoperatively is better than either chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone. Therefore, preoperative radiochemotherapy followed by surgery is the standard treatment and future direction for locally advanced ESCC.