Concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy with protracted continuous infusion of 5-fluorouracil in inoperable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Clinical practice and outcome of radiotherapy for esophageal cancer between 1999 and 2003: the Japanese Radiation Oncology Study Group (JROSG) Survey

“…The type of chemotherapy differed significantly among the institutions. In Japan, low-dose protracted infusion chemotherapy combined with full-dose RT of 60-66 Gy used to be a popular regimen for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinomas [5,7,16,20,22]. In the present analysis, full-dose FP was used most frequently (42.5%), followed by low-dose FP (36.8%) ( Table 2).…”

“…Low-dose FP included the following regimens: (1) two cycles of cisplatin 7 mg/m 2 (days 1-5 and 8-12) and 5-FU 250 mg/m 2 /day as continuous IV (days 1-14) [5,18,19], and (2) six weekly cycles of cisplatin 3-5 mg/m 2 (days 1-5) and 5-FU 180-250 mg/m 2 as continuous IV (days 1-5 or 1-7) [19,20,22]. The other regimens included: (1) two cycles of cis-diammine-glycolatoplatinum (Nedaplatin) 55-80 mg/m 2 and 5-FU 300-700 mg/m 2 as continuous IV (days 1-5) [23], and (2) daily administration of 5-FU 300 mg/m 2 /day as continuous IV for 6 weeks [7].…”

“…Until the mid-1990s, many patients treated by CRT had unresectable T4 disease or metastatic cervical lymph nodes (M1-lymph). Even for these locally advanced T4 or M1-lymph esophageal cancers, 2-year overall survival rates of 20-30% have been reported by Japanese investigators using concurrent CRT of 60 Gy [5][6][7]. Because of the success of concurrent CRT for unresectable esophageal cancer, definitive CRT has been applied for resectable esophageal cancer (T1-3N0,1M0) since the late 1990s in Japan.…”

Feasibility of chemoradiation therapy with protracted infusion of5-fluorouracil for esophageal cancer patients not suitable for cisplatin

“…[10][11][12][13] It was noted that the survival rates were also superior to those in historical cohorts of patients treated with radiation alone. 6,7,[9][10][11][12]14 Then came several randomized trials which clearly demonstrated that combined chemoradiation therapy was superior to radiation therapy alone. 2,[15][16][17] Finally, a systematic review has confirmed that chemoradiation therapy using a cisplatincontaining regimen should be the standard of care for inoperable disease.…”

Multimodality Therapy of Nonmetastatic Esophageal Cancer

“…Though not proven by randomized trials, it may be of added benefit to administer 5-FU as protracted continuous infusion [8,[40][41][42][43][44]. A protracted low-dose continuous infusion of 5-FU in a dose range of 250-300 mg/m 2 /24 h given concurrently with standard doses of radiation therapy adds only little morbidity, but is still experimental.…”