It is still controversial whether adjuvant chemotherapy of cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin can increase the overall survival of esophageal cancer patients, and which subgroup of patients get most benefits from it. Between 1998 and 2004, 66 esophageal cancer patients with adjuvant chemotherapy and 160 well-matched patients without chemotherapy were included in this study. Nine markers were measured in the protein level to analyze prognostic significance. In the whole group, adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve the survival of esophageal cancer patients. There was also no significant difference for survival in stage I (P=0.59 and P=0.59), stage II (P=0.28 and P=0.28) and stage III patients (P=0.144 and P=0.06) between the observation and the chemotherapy group. Chemotherapy was most effective for the patients who had metastases in cervical and/or celiac lymph nodes (IV subgroup). One and 3-year disease-free survival and overall survival were significantly better than for those who did not receive the chemotherapy(P=0.038, and 0.016, respectively). Bcl-2 expression was a bad prognostic factor, and was more predictive in the adjuvant chemotherapy group than in the no-chemotherapy group. Adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved the treatment result of stage IV patients compared with the observation group. Bcl-2 could be used to analyze prognosis and guide the adjuvant treatment.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.