Comparative assessment of radio- and chemotherapy of inoperable esophageal cancer

The paper is concerned with the results of radiation therapy and three variants of chemoradiotherapy of 174 patients with inoperable esophageal cancer. Among the variants of chemoradiotherapy the most effective one was the combination of 5-FU with bleomycin, in which complete tumor regression was noted in 46% of the patients, and the 2-year survival was 43% versus 25% in the combination of 5-FU with adriamycin and 21% in its combination with methotrexate. Prognostically unfavorable factors were a degree of body mass deficiency, tumor spreading and a tumor site in the esophagus