{"id":46693,"date":"2024-07-09T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/news-events\/cancer-currents-blog\/2024\/esophageal-cancer-flot-perioperative-chemotherapy"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:11:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:11:49","slug":"trial-establishes-preferred-treatment-for-some-people-with-esophageal-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/trial-establishes-preferred-treatment-for-some-people-with-esophageal-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial Establishes Preferred Treatment for Some People with Esophageal Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

In locally advanced esophageal cancer, the disease has spread just outside of the esophagus, including to nearby lymph nodes, but not to other parts of the body.<\/p>\n

Credit: \u00a9 Terese Winslow<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

A large clinical trial looks to have settled a debate over how best to treat most people with locally advanced esophageal cancer, where the disease has spread just outside of the esophagus but not to other parts of the body. <\/p>\n

Typically, these people get one of two treatments: chemotherapy followed by surgery and then more chemotherapy, or chemotherapy and radiation followed by surgery and no further treatment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been unclear, however, if one approach was more effective than the other. <\/p>\n

In the trial, people treated with chemotherapy both before and after surgery, which is known as perioperative<\/a> chemotherapy, lived considerably longer than those who received chemotherapy and radiation before surgery<\/a>, known as neoadjuvant<\/a> treatment.<\/p>\n

Based on the study\u2019s findings, perioperative chemotherapy should be the recommended approach for people with locally advanced esophageal cancer, said Jens Hoeppner, M.D., of the University of Bielefeld in Germany, who led the study. Dr. Hoeppner presented the findings at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on June 2. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe results have been long awaited among those of us who treat esophageal cancer,\u201d said Karyn A. Goodman, M.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, who discussed the results during the meeting but was not involved in the study.  <\/p>\n

Dr. Goodman also noted, however, that the treatment landscape for esophageal cancer is rapidly evolving. Although it\u2019s important to have some resolution to this particular debate, she said, newer treatments, including immunotherapies, are also now an option for people with locally advanced esophageal cancer. <\/p>\n

In addition, researchers are also testing whether combining these regimens<\/a> with other therapies can lead to even better outcomes for patients. In other words, she stressed, how locally advanced esophageal cancer is treated is going to continue to evolve in the coming years.<\/p>\n

Two standard of care treatment options <\/h2>\n

In the United States, it is estimated that more than 22,000 people will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer<\/a> this year. Approximately half of these cases will be diagnosed at a locally advanced stage<\/a>. <\/p>\n