In patients with squamous-cell esophageal cancer, preoperative chemoradiotherapy did not improve overall survival, but it did prolong disease-free survival and survival free of local disease.

Compared with surgery alone, NCRT with cisplatin plus fluorouracil does not improve R0 resection rate or survival but enhances postoperative mortality in patients with stage I or II EC.

BACKGROUND Despite increasingly radical surgery for esophageal carcinoma, a large number of patients still experience recurrent disease soon after operation. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the pattern of recurrence after curative esophagectomy for cancer of the thoracic esophagus and to identify factors predictive of recurrent disease. METHODS A total of 439 consecutive patients discharged from the authors' institution following R0 resection between January 1982 and July 2002 were followed for evidence of recurrence over a mean interval of 37.3 (range, 1–207) months. RESULTS Overall 1‐, 3‐ and 5‐years survival rates were 91%, 54%, and 41%, respectively. Some 230 patients (52.4%) developed proven recurrence, of whom 24 were alive and 206 were dead at the time of writing. The median time to recurrence was 12.0 (range, 6–96) months, with a median survival thereafter of 7.0 (range, 0–83) months. The pattern of recurrence was local in 12.1%, regional in 20.5% (cervical 3.6%, mediastinal 14.8%, and abdominal 2.1%), and distant in 19.8%, respectively. The overall pattern of dissemination was significantly different according to the histologic subtype (P = 0.021). One hundred five (45.7%) of all recurrences occurred within 12 months of surgery, with local, regional, and distant recurrence occurring at a median of 14.0 (range, 6–77), 13.5 (range, 6–73), and 11.0 (range, 6–96) months, respectively; A factor predictive of recurrent disease was histologic tumor depth invasion (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Depth of tumor invasion should be used to identify patients who will have recurrence within 12 months of operation, so that these patients may be either entered into trials of multimodality treatment or offered nonsurgical palliation. Cancer 2003;97:1616–23. © 2003 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11228

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Background: Free jejunal transfer has become the standard technique for reconstruction of the pharynx and hypopharynx, especially with proximal neoplastic lesions, whereas gastric tube interposition is the technique of choice for reconstruction of the hypopharynx and cervical esophagus when resection extends below the thoracic inlet. Hypothesis: Surgical ablation is a viable option for advanced hypopharyngeal and cervical esophageal neoplasms, with stomach interposition a safe and preferred method of reconstruction. Design: Retrospective analysis. Setting: University hospital that is a regional referral institution for esophageal cancer treatment and complex digestive reconstructions after esophagectomy. Patients: We reviewed the records of 209 patients who underwent total pharyngolaryngectomy between May 1982 and July 1999. The majority of patients had advanced cancer: hypopharyngeal in 131 cases and cervical esophageal in 78 cases. Interventions: Pharyngolaryngectomy and total esophagectomy with pharyngogastric anastomoses (n=127); pharyngolaryngectomy, cervical esophagectomy, and reconstruction with free jejunal transplant (n =77); and pharyngolaryngectomy and total esophagectomy with pharyngocolic anastomoses (n = 5). Main Outcome Measures: Postoperative mortality and morbidity, long-term survival, and prognostic factors influencing survival. Results: The postoperative in-hospital mortality rate was 4.8% (10 patients), with a postoperative morbidity rate of 38.3%. Alimentary continuity was achieved using the stomach (127 patients), colon (5 patients), or free jejunal autograft (77 patients). The 1-year and 5-year survival rates were 62% and 24%, respectively. There was no significant difference with regard to the survival between gastric transposition and free jejunal autograft, but there were fewer complications in the gastric pull-up group (33% vs 47%, PϽ.05). The significant adverse factors affecting survival were tumor cervical localization, postoperative complications, disease stages pT3 and pT4 for the cervical esophageal tumors, microscopic pharyngeal penetration, or incomplete resection. The significant beneficial factors were tumor hypopharyngeal localization and postoperative radiotherapy. Conclusions: Surgical ablation is a viable option for advanced hypopharyngeal and cervical esophageal neoplasms, with stomach interposition the preferred method of reconstruction. Although the prognosis is poor, satisfactory short-term palliation can be achieved. The significant adverse factors affecting survival should be taken into account to select the candidates for surgery.

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We report the association of CDH1/E-cadherin mutations with cleft lip, with or without cleft palate (CLP), in two families with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC). In each family, the CDH1 mutation was a splicing mutation generating aberrant transcripts with an in-frame deletion, removing the extracellular cadherin repeat domains involved in cell-cell adhesion. Such transcripts might encode mutant proteins with trans-dominant negative effects. We found that CDH1 is highly expressed at 4 and 5 weeks in the frontonasal prominence, and at 6 weeks in the lateral and medial nasal prominences of human embryos, and is therefore expressed during the critical stages of lip and palate development. These findings suggest that alteration of the E-cadherin pathway can contribute to human clefting.

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