Efficacy of Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy as a Palliative Treatment in Stage IVB Esophageal Cancer Patients with Dysphagia

Objective: To retrospectively assess the efficacy and safety of palliative chemoradiotherapy in Stage IVB esophageal cancer patients with dysphagia due to the primary lesion. Methods: Forty patients with dysphagia caused by metastatic esophageal cancer, which had been treated between January 2004 and June 2009, were retrospectively investigated. The treatment consisted of two courses of chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil and cisplatin) and concurrent irradiation of 40 Gy in 20 fractions to the esophageal primary tumor. The grade of dysphagia was evaluated; nutrition-support-free survival was evaluated using the status of nutritional support of patients. Response to treatment, overall survival, progression-free survival and toxicities were also evaluated. Results: Dysphagia score improved in 75% of the patients. Seventeen of the 20 patients (85%) who had required nutritional support at baseline improved their oral intake to no longer need the support, in a median time of 43 days. The median nutrition-support-free survival was 301 days in the 20 patients who had had adequate oral intake before the treatment. Disease control rate of the primary lesion was 95%, including 12 patients (30%) who achieved a complete response. The overall response rate was 55%. The median survival was 308 days, and the 1-year-survival rate was 45.0%. The median progression-free survival was 139 days. Toxicities were generally well tolerated. Major toxicities (Grade 3 or 4) involved hemoglobin (23%), leukocytes (15%), neutrophils (20%), anorexia (10%), nausea (3%), esophageal perforation (5%) and febrile neutropenia (3%). Two patients (5%) died within 30 days of terminating radiotherapy. Conclusions: Palliative chemoradiotherapy using 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin combined with concurrent 40 Gy irradiation effectively improved the symptom of dysphagia in Stage IVB esophageal cancer with acceptable toxicity and favorable survival.