Palliative management of esophageal carcinoma.

The surgical treatment of esophageal carcinoma is palliative surgery in 90 percent of cases. Much can be done by the motivated surgeon to ease the suffering of the patients and to help them die with dignity. In this context, compassion is more important than surgical statistics. Age, depletion resulting from complications and distant metastases are no longer contraindications to palliative surgery as defined herein.