Abstract

Esophageal Carcinoma is widely disseminated in many patients at the time of diagnosis. Therefore systemic chemotherapy has assumed an important role in the treatment of this disease. We conducted a phase II trial of 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin in 39 patients with advanced esophageal cancer. The regimen consisted of 5-fluorouracil, 1,000 mg/§³/day in 12 hour continuous infusion on day 1 to 5 and cisplatin, 60 mg/§³/day iv on day 1 every three weeks. Response rates were calculated only from 37 patients with measurable disease. The response rate was 39%(complete response 2%, partial response 37%) with a median duration of 4 months (range 2~10 months). Median time of survival for all patients was 9 months(range 1~4 months). The toxicities were moderate. This study demonstrates that combination of 5-fluoriuracil and cisplatin is an efficient and tolerable chemotherapy regimen in patients with advanced esophageal cancer.

• Keywords: Esophagus, Squamous cell carcinoma, 5-fluorouracil, Cisplatin