The development of Barrett's epithelium is frequent after esophagectomy, is time-related, reflecting chronic acid and bile exposure, and is not specific for adenocarcinoma or the presence of previous Barrett's epithelium. This model may represent a useful in vivo model of the pathogenesis of Barrett's metaplasia and tumorigenesis.

Although the multimodal regimen had a negative impact on HRQL before surgery, postoperative quality of life in patients who had multimodal therapy was similar to that in those who had surgery alone.

There is increasing evidence supporting the use of preoperative chemoradiotherapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer in an attempt to facilitate complete surgical resection with clear margins. We describe our experience of using a 5-day per week regime of preoperative capecitabine chemoradiotherapy. Between November 2004 and September 2006, 70 patients with MRI-defined locally advanced rectal cancer were selected for treatment. Capecitabine was given at a dose of 900 mg m À2 for 5 days per week combined with 45 Gy of radiotherapy in 25 doses. This regime was well tolerated with 89% of our patients receiving the full dose of chemotherapy and 96% receiving the full dose of radiotherapy. Ninety-three per cent proceeded to macroscopically complete surgical resection. The pathological complete response rate was 9.2% with a node-negative rate of 66%. A negative circumferential margin was achieved by 79% of the patients who underwent resection. Compared to studies using a 7-day per week capecitabine schedule, our results show increased compliance and less dose reductions with comparable pathological outcome. There is clear evidence from two systematic reviews that adjuvant radiotherapy reduces the risk of local recurrence in patients with resectable rectal cancer (Camma et al, 2000; Colorectal Cancer Collaborative, 2001). The greatest benefit is seen when preoperative radiotherapy is used with a biologically equivalent dose of 430 Gy. Further clinical trials were required to assess the benefit of adding concurrent chemotherapy to preoperative radiotherapy.The recent publication of two phase III trials confirms that preoperative concurrent chemoradiation (CRT) is superior to long-course radiotherapy alone in patients with T3/4 or nodepositive resectable rectal cancer. The EORTC 22921 (Bosset et al, 2005) and FFCD 9203 (Gerard et al, 2006) trials compared intravenous 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and leucovorin (LV) given during the first and fifth weeks of radiotherapy with radiotherapy alone (dose of RT was 45 Gy in 25 fractions in both arms of the studies). Both trials demonstrated a reduction in the rates of local recurrence at 5 years from 17% with radiotherapy alone to 8 -9% with preoperative CRT, but neither trial showed any difference in overall survival. A further recent phase III trial has demonstrated that preoperative 5FU CRT is superior to post-operative CRT with a significant reduction in local recurrence from 12 to 6% as well as a significant reduction in both acute and long-term toxicity (Sauer et al, 2004). This evidence will clearly result in an increasing use of fluoropyrimidine-based CRT.Intravenous 5FU-based chemoradiation presents many logistical challenges. Continuous infusion of 5FU requires the insertion of a central venous line with its attendant risks of thrombosis and infection as well as the inconvenience of a portable infusion pump. The use of the bolus 5FU/LV regimen used in the EORTC and FFCD trials requires 10 daily visits to the chemotherapy day unit, with associated waiting time, t...

Attempts to define the clinical significance of occult lymph node metastasis have yielded mixed results. We set out to quantify the influence on disease-free survival of occult lymph node metastasis in cases of esophageal or gastro-esophageal cancer previously staged as lymph node-negative by conventional H&E staining. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies published between 1966 and 2006 (identified through Medline and Embase). Twelve suitable cohort studies were identified. These studies suggest there is a significant (P < 0.001) association between occult lymph node metastasis and prognosis in cancer of the esophagus or esophago-gastric junction (pooled hazard ratio 3.16 with 95% confidence intervals of 2.25-4.42). We did not demonstrate study quality, number of nodes examined or number of lymph node sections examined to be significant sources of intertrial heterogeneity. Data from observational studies suggest that occult lymph node metastasis is an important prognostic factor in cancer of the esophagus or gastro-esophagus. Meta-analysis using individual patient data can now be justified.