Modern approaches to localized cancer of the esophagus.

Overview

The clinical spectrum of esophageal cancer has changed dramatically over the past couple of decades. Most notably, a profound rise in esophageal adenocarcinoma and decrease in the incidence of squamous carcinomas have occurred. An understanding of the factors that influence survival for patients with localized esophageal cancer has evolved concomitantly with these changes in epidemiology. Significant advancement in endoscopic and radiographic staging allows for more selective use of treatment modalities. The treatment of localized esophageal cancer mandates a multidisciplinary approach, with treatment tailored to disease extent, location, histology, and an accurate assessment of pretreatment staging. Despite these improvements in the staging and use of multimodality therapy, only modest improvements in patient survival have been observed. This article summarizes these modern approaches to localized cancer of the esophagus.