[Clinical results and prospects of hyperthermia in the treatment of patients with esophageal carcinoma].

Hyperthermia using a radiofrequency system with an endotract antenna, combined with irradiation and chemotherapy, was prescribed for patients with resectable (n = 62) and unresectable (n = 31) squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, admitted to the 2nd Department of Surgery, Kyushu University Hospital from 1978. The histopathological effectiveness, according to the Guidelines for Clinical and Pathologic Studies on Carcinoma of the Esophagus, and the long-term results were compared between two groups of patients treated with hyperthermo-chemo-radiotherapy (HCR therapy) and those treated with chemo-radiotherapy but not hyperthermia (CR therapy). In the resected cases, preoperative HCR therapy resulted in a significantly higher histopathological effectiveness rate (66%) compared with that in cases treated by CR therapy (49%) (p less than 0.05). The five-year survival rates of patients with resectable carcinoma given preoperative HCR therapy or CR therapy were 43.2% and 14.7%, respectively, and the two-year survival rates of those with unresectable carcinoma were 15.5% and 1.2%, respectively. Thus, HCR therapy produced not only a significantly higher histopathological effectiveness rate but also a significantly longer survival without severe side effects. This treatment would contribute to improvement of the prognosis of patients with carcinoma of the esophagus.