Therapy of advanced esophageal cancer with bleomycin, irradiation and combination of bleomycin with irradiation.

Results from treating 51 patients with advanced esophageal cancer are presented. Fifteen patients were treated with Bleomycin, 12 with radiotherapy, and 24 with a combination of bleomycin and radiotherapy. The best results were achieved in the group of patients treated with combined therapy showing 62% objective remissions (15/24) which was statistically significant (P less than 0.001) in comparison to the other groups. In the Bleomycin therapy group, there were 26% objective remissions (4/15), and in the group treated only with radiotherapy 33% (4/12)- The median duration of remission was 9 months in the combined therapy group, 6.3 months in the group treated with radiotherapy, and 2.6 months in the Bleomycin treated group. The authors concluded that the combination of Bleomycin and radiotherapy seems to be a further step in palliative treatment of advanced esophageal cancer.