Carcinosarcoma of the esophagus treated with chemoradiotherapy: report of four cases

Esophageal carcinosarcoma is a rare neoplasm. Esophagectomy with lymph node dissection has often been performed, although the efficacy of chemotherapy or radiotherapy is not yet confirmed. Four cases of esophageal carcinosarcoma who underwent chemoradiotherapy are presented. Complete response of the primary tumor was observed in one case; tumor size decreased in three cases. Two patients have been observed to be disease free, another patient died of metastatic disease, and the other had recurrence. Six cases of carcinosarcoma treated with chemoradiotherapy were retrieved from the literature and analyzed with the four cases in the current study. Reduction of the tumor was observed in seven of the ten cases. Disease progression or local recurrence was observed in three cases, and another two cases died of metastatic disease. Although chemoradiotherapy seems to be capable of local control, whether it is beneficial in terms of prolonging survival of patients with this disease remains unknown.