The results of surgery and radiotherapy in the treatment of small carcinomas of the thoracic oesophagus.

The clinical features and results of treatment of 100 patients with small thoracic oesophageal carcinoma first seen in surgery and then in radiotherapy were analyzed. The difference in mean ages between operated and irradiated series was sixteen years. The resectability rate of surgical series was 86%. It was possible to complete radical radiotherapy in 96% of cases. The 5-year crude survival rate was 14% in the whole material. The 5-year relative survival rates in operated and irradiated series were 26 and 5%, respectively. Both surgery and radiotherapy had a little better prognosis in the lower third of the thoracic oesophagus. The comparison of our results with these of other oesophageal carcinoma series was very difficult, because the series differ in many respects. We believe that surgery followed by radiotherapy when resection is palliative, and radiotherapy when surgery is not possible produce comparable results with any other method in the treatment of thoracic oesophageal carcinoma.