Prolonged survival and effective palliation in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus following endoscopic laser therapy.

Endoscopic laser therapy provides effective symptomatic palliation for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. To investigate whether this treatment also prolongs survival, a retrospective case-control study was performed. Ten patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, diagnosed between 1983 and 1985, were treated with the neodymium: yttrium aluminum garnet laser (Cooper Lasersonics, Model 8000, Santa Clara, CA). Twenty patients with the same diagnosis observed between 1979 and 1984 served as age-matched controls. There was no significant difference in sex, race, location of the cancer, prior treatment, or dysphagia scores for the two groups. Laser therapy produced a significant improvement in the mean dysphagia score. Life table analysis demonstrated a median survival of 17.5 months for the patients treated with endoscopic laser therapy compared with 5.7 months for the control subjects (P less than 0.05). One-year survival after laser treatment was 75%, compared with 20% in the control group (P less than 0.05). These results suggest that endoscopic laser therapy is effective for prolonging survival and improving the quality of life in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.