[Endoscopic laser coagulation of the tumor in patients with cancer of the esophagus and proximal portion of the stomach]. / Endoskopicheskaia lazerkoaguliatsiia opukholi u bol'nykh rakom pishchevoda i proksimal'nogo otdela zheludka.

The paper discusses the results of treatment of 152 cases of cancer of the esophagus and proximal part of the stomach presenting with grade III-IV dysphagia. In 107 patients, treatment included endoscopic laser coagulation of tumor: in 52 the procedure was combined with radiation and in 18 cases-with chemotherapy, whereas in 37 patients the method was used alone for palliation only attempting at return to enteral nutrition. Histories of 45 patients with esophageal cancer who had received standard treatment served as control. Laser coagulation-associated lethality was 1.9%. Normal food passage was restored in 97.6% of esophageal cancer patients and in 96% of those with cancer of the proximal part of the stomach. The mean overall survival was 8.7, 8.4 and 7.3 months for the study groups and 3.2 months only for controls. The mean dysphagia-free survival was 48.5 days.

[Endoscopic electrothermocoagulation of tumors in inoperable cancer of the esophagus and proximal part of the stomach]. / Endoskopicheskaia élektrotermokoagulatsiia opukholi pri neoperabel'nom rake pishchevoda i proksimal'nogo otdela zheludka.

The paper discusses application of endoscopic electrothermocoagulation in complex treatment of inoperable cancer of the esophagus and the proximal part of the stomach presenting with severe dysphagia. The study included 247 such patients, with 77.3% having stage IV tumor. 202 cases underwent electrothermocoagulation as a component of the treatment modality whereas 45 received standard therapy (controls). The newly-developed procedure assured enteral nutrition in 95.4% of cases and a drop in treatment--related complication rate from 33 to 9.3%. Survival ranged 8.4-11.2 months in different study groups and was as low as 3.1 months in controls.