Randomized clinical trials in esophageal cancer.

Overview

The level I evidence leading to current treatment practices in the management of esophageal cancer includes a total of 72 prospective, randomized controlled trials. The impact of these studies are varied. Numerous well-designed surgical trials address important technical issues in resection and reconstruction after esophagectomy; these studies define complication and morbidity rates in addition to overall survival. A large percentage of the prospective, randomized controlled trials address the role of neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemoradiation, with overall survival as the endpoint. The majoritv of these trials are designed to improve on the dismal resectability and overall survival rates in esophageal cancer by initiating novel combination strategies. However, further well-designed