Clinical relevance of induction triplet chemotherapy for esophageal cancer invading adjacent organs

Background and Objectives There is no consensus on treatment for esophageal cancer invading adjacent organs (T4), but induction multidrug chemotherapy may be a beneficial, especially when surgery is considered as adjuvant treatment. Methods We classified 169 patients with T4 esophageal cancer without distant metastasis into those undergoing chemotherapy using cisplatin and 5-FU (CF) plus adriamycin or CF plus docetaxel (79 patients) and those undergoing chemoradiotherapy using CF (90 patients). For the former group, chemoradiation was subsequently applied when surgical resection was not indicated. Results Thirty-four patients in the chemotherapy group (43.0%) received chemoradiotherapy following chemotherapy. Although the response rate tended to be higher in the chemoradiotherapy group, there was no significant difference in the response rate between the groups (63.3% vs. 68.9%). Esophageal perforation during treatment was more frequent among the chemoradiotherapy group than the chemotherapy group (16.7% vs. 6.3%, Pa=0.0379). The rate of surgical resection was consequently higher for the induction chemotherapy group compared to the chemoradiotherapy group (72.1% vs. 45.6%, P=0.0005). Conclusions Induction triplet chemotherapy reduced esophageal perforation and increased the resectability of T4 esophageal cancers by combining second-line chemoradiotherapy. This strategy might increase the chance of curative resection for patients with T4 esophageal cancer. J. Surg. Oncol. 2012; 106:441-447. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.