A 70-year-old man was diagnosed in 1995 with a focally poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the lower oesophagus. History included myocardial infarction in 1991 and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. World Health Organization performance status at the time of diagnosis was 1. Serum creatinine was elevated (155 µmol/l) due to nephroangiosclerosis. Carcinoembryonic antigen serum level was normal. Owing to a computed tomography finding of enlarged paraaortic/paratracheal lymph nodes, without evidence of systemic metastatic spread, neo-adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) as a continuous infusion (c.i.) for 5 days, combined with doxorubicin on day 1, in a 3-week schedule was started. Response to therapy was documented and the patient underwent radical oesophagectomy. Disease was classified as pT2pN0M0 according to tumournodemetastasis classification (TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours, UICC, Sixth Edition 2002). Postoperative complications consisted of renal failure requiring transient dialysis, bilateral pneumonia and complex cardiac arrhythmia, which were all successfully managed. In the following year the patient underwent several endoscopic dilatations of benign anastomotic strictures without evidence of cancer. In March 1996, an abdominal ultrasound revealed two hepatic lesions, both in segment V, which were confirmed on biopsy to be metastases. Old age and cardiac and renal co-morbidities were the reasons for treatment choice: low dose 5-FU c.i. with folinic acid given 14 out of 28 days. In November 1996, liver imaging disclosed the disappearance of all liver lesions (Figure 1). Therapy was continued as 5-day 5-FU infusion every 46 weeks until November 1998. The patient is still alive in complete remission (CR), with excellent quality of life despite regular peritoneal dialysis recently introduced for a worsening of the renal failure. Chemotherapy may offer palliation and prolongation of survival in patients with advanced oesophageal cancer. Cisplatin in combination with 5-FU, taxanes or irinotecan yield objective response rates of 3050% [2
], but the impact of response on survival and on quality of life is unclear due to the lack of information from comparative trials of chemotherapy versus supportive care alone. On the other hand, CRs are rare, and the duration of any response is typically short. Despite the suboptimal chemotherapy administered, the patient achieved a sustained CR persisting 5 years beyond completion of treatment. A similar favourable course of oesophageal cancer has been described only anecdotically in subjects with metastatic Barrett's adenocarcinoma [3
] or squamous cell carcinoma [4
].
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1 Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Bellinzona, Switzerland; 2 Department of Surgery, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano, sede Civico, Lugano, Switzerland
* Email: pcsaletti{at}bluewin.ch
References
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3. Mason GR, Micetich K, Aranha GV. Long-term survival of a patient widespread metastases from Barrett's adenocarcinoma. Eur J Surg Oncol 2001; 27: 509514.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
4. Sumi H, Ohtsu A, Boku N et al. A case of inoperable esophageal carcinoma with hepatic and nodal metastases which showed a long-term survival after chemoradiotherapy including nedaplatin. Jpn J Clin Oncol 2000; 30: 406409.
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