IMPORTANCE Prophylactic gastrostomy tube (GT) insertion prior to chemoradiotherapy is a valuable nutritional adjunct in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing nonsurgical treatment. However, concerns have been expressed regarding high rates of GT dependence. There is little information in the literature regarding the impact of modifiable risk factors such as smoking and alcohol consumpti...

BACKGROUND Locoregional recurrence is a major problem in esophageal cancer patients treated with definitive concomitant chemoradiotherapy. Approximately half of the patients fail locoregionally. We analyzed the impact of enlarged radiation field size and higher radiation dose incorporated to chemoradiotherapy on oncologic outcome. METHODS Seventy-four consecutive patients with histologically ...

The aim of this study was to describe the patterns of tumor regression with respect to follow-up duration after chemoradiotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A total of 27 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were included and received definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Patterns of primary tumor regression and development of locoregional recurrences were evaluated by imag...

INTRODUCTION To determine the prognostic value of celiac lymphadenopathy for patients with esophageal or gastroesophageal junction carcinomas treated with neoadjuvant or definitive chemoradiotherapy. METHODS The records of patients undergoing chemoradiation therapy for esophageal cancer, who received a dose of at least 45 Gy, were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS One hundred forty-four pat...

Historical series document the poor survival (7-16% at 5 years) for patients with N2-positive, stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with primary surgery. In 1994, two small randomized trials showed the superiority of induction chemotherapy followed by surgery over surgery alone for stage IIIA NSCLC. These findings, as well as subsequent studies showing the superiority of chemor...

Carcinoma of the esophagus and gastroesophageal junction tumors presenting with locoregional disease are potentially curable, although the cure rate is modest. Many different treatment approaches have been studied, with a multimodality approach associated with a 10% to 15% greater survival advantage compared with a single-modality approach. A systematic review was conducted to address 3 clinica...

OBJECTIVE The extent to which neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer influences postoperative morbidity is controversial. This study investigated whether this treatment suppresses the normal perioperative inflammatory response and explored the clinical implications. METHOD Prospective databases were queried to identify 37 consecutive study patients undergoing definitive surgery follo...