Open AccessSuccessful outcome after combined chemotherapeutic and surgical management in a case of esophageal cancer with breast and brain relapse
Author(s) -
Davide Adriano Santeufemia,
Gianfranca Piredda,
Giovanni Fadda,
Paolo Cossu-Rocca,
Salvatore Costantino,
Giovanni Sanna,
Maria Giuseppa Sarobba,
Claudia M.A. Pinna,
Carlo Putzu,
A. Farris
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
world journal of gastroenterology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.427
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 2219-2840
pISSN - 1007-9327
DOI - 10.3748/wjg.v12.i34.5565
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , esophageal cancer , surgery , chemotherapy , brain metastasis , disease , oncology , metastasis , curative treatment , cancer
Esophageal cancer (EC) is a highly lethal disease. Approximately 50% of patients present with metastatic EC and most patients with localized EC will have local recurrence or develop metastases, despite potentially curative local therapy. The most common sites of distant recurrence are represented by lung, liver and bone while brain and breast metastases are rare. Usually patients with advanced disease are not treated aggressively and their median survival is six months. We report a woman patient who developed breast and brain metastases after curative surgery. We treated her with a highly aggressive chemotherapeutic and surgical combination resulting in a complete remission of the disease even after 11-year follow-up. We think that in super selected patients with more than one metastasis, when functional status is good and metastases are technically resectable, a surgical excision may be considered as a salvage option and chemotherapy should be delivered to allow a systemic control.