Open AccessEarly detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its effects on therapy: an overview [Note 1. Presented at the Squamous Esophageal Carcinoma Symposium, the 7th ...]
Author(s) -
L. Q. Chen,
Chen Hu,
P Ghadirian,
André Duranceau
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
diseases of the esophagus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.115
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1442-2050
pISSN - 1120-8694
DOI - 10.1046/j.1442-2050.1999.00039.x
Subject(s) - medicine , esophagus , stage (stratigraphy) , esophageal cancer , cancer , carcinoma , disease , incidence (geometry) , oncology , basal cell , survival rate , surgery , paleontology , physics , optics , biology
Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus shows a wide variation in incidence worldwide. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer‐related death in men and usually diagnosed at an advanced stage with unsatisfactory therapeutic results. The techniques available for early detection of esophageal carcinoma are reviewed in this paper, as well as its overall effect on survival. For the time being, only surgical resection at a very early stage may improve survival of the disease. Esophageal cancer can be treated at an earlier stage when it is diagnosed by mass screening detection. However, despite a high survival rate at 5 years, local recurrences and distal metastases may still occur even 10 years after treatment. Prevention and therapeutic intervention at an earlier stage before the oncologic process has resulted in cancer changes is necessary to alter the natural evolution of the disease.