We conducted this study to evaluate the clinical significance of preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by esophagectomy in the management of T3 and T4 esophageal cancer. Thirty patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus received CRT followed by surgery. Preoperative CRT consisted of 5-fluorouracil (500 mg/m2 by 24 h infusion for 5 days), cisplatin (15 mg/m2 on days 1-5), and concurrent radiotherapy (a total dose of 40 Gy delivered in daily fractions of 2 Gy, 5 times per week). Esophagectomy was planned for 4-6 weeks after treatment and restaging. All 30 patients completed preoperative CRT. A clinical response (PR+CR) of the primary tumor was obtained in 82.8%, and a response of metastatic nodes was seen in 23.1%. Radical resection was possible in 17 of 29 operated patients (58.6%). The postoperative mortality rate was 6.9%, and the hospital mortality rate was 10.3%. Ten out of 29 operated patients (34.5%) had no residual cancer in the resected esophagus, corresponding to pathological CR. The 1-year survival rate was 80.6%, the 2-year survival rate was 62.7%, and the 3-year survival rate was 53.8%. The clinical response group and the R0 or R1 group showed better survival than other patients. Preoperative CRT should be given to patients with squamous cell carcinoma, while esophagectomy remains the standard therapy for responders and has a tolerable mortality.

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