Surgery With or Without Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Stage II or Stage III Cancer of the Esophagus

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. It is not known whether chemotherapy before surgery is more effective than surgery alone in treating cancer of the esophagus. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of surgery with or without chemotherapy in treating patients with stage II or stage III cancer of the esophagus.

Timeline

Start

1992-07

Primary completion

—

Completion

2001-06

Publications

• Results Ancona E, Ruol A, Santi S, Merigliano S, Sileni VC, Koussis H, Zaninotto G, Bonavina L, Peracchia A. Only pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves significantly the long term survival of patients with resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: final report of a randomized, controlled trial of preoperative chemotherapy versus surgery alone. Cancer. 2001 Jun 1;91(11):2165-74.
• Results Ancona E, Ruol A, Santi S, et al.: Major response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy leads to improved long-term survival in potentially resectable (T2-3, any N, M0) esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Final report of a randomized trial of neoadjuvant chemotherapy versus surgery alone. [Abstract] Proceedings of the European Surgical Association 7th annual meeting, Amsterdam, April 14-15, 2000.

Drugs

Indications