[Endoscopic electrothermocoagulation of tumors in inoperable cancer of the esophagus and proximal part of the stomach].

The paper discusses application of endoscopic electrothermocoagulation in complex treatment of inoperable cancer of the esophagus and the proximal part of the stomach presenting with severe dysphagia. The study included 247 such patients, with 77.3% having stage IV tumor. 202 cases underwent electrothermocoagulation as a component of the treatment modality whereas 45 received standard therapy (controls). The newly-developed procedure assured enteral nutrition in 95.4% of cases and a drop in treatment--related complication rate from 33 to 9.3%. Survival ranged 8.4-11.2 months in different study groups and was as low as 3.1 months in controls.