For patients with esophageal cancer, status of lymph nodes after preoperative therapy determines survival

(American Association for Thoracic Surgery) The status of lymph nodes rather than the status of the primary tumor following preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiation therapy is the most important factor that determines whether patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer will survive. The study presented at the AATS 98th Annual Meeting indicates that while preoperative chemotherapy and radiation therapy improve survival of patients with esophageal cancer, patients with malignant lymph nodes following therapy were less likely to survive than patients with no cancer in the lymph nodes.
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news