Carcinoma of the oesophagus--a review of 108 cases treated by radical radiotherapy.

A retrospective survey was made of 108 patients accepted for radical radiotherapy over a 10-year period. The crude 5-year survival was 8.3% (9 of 108). Patients aged 65 years and over fared significantly better than patients aged less than 65 years (P = 0.04). Long-term survival was more likely with the following features: females, good general condition, tumour in the upper third of oesophagus and no more than 8 cm in length. The 5-year survival for upper third cases was 15.6% (7 of 45) so that for this site radiotherapy can reasonably be considered the treatment of choice. Hypothyroidism developed in three of the seven upper third long-term survivors.