Induction chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with carcinoma of the esophagus.

A prospective randomized phase III trial was carried out at Songklanagarind Hospital from August 1988 to December 1990. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy regimen in squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and to determine whether induction chemotherapy improves symptom-free period and survival in these patients compared to surgical treatment alone. Twenty-four patients were randomized to receive 2 cycles of chemotherapy, cis-platinum 100 mg/m2 intravenously on day 1, bleomycin 10 mg/m2 loading dose on day 3, followed by 10 mg/m2/day continuous intravenous infusion on days 4 through 7, and vinblastine 3 mg/m2 given intravenously on days 1, 8, 15, 22. The cycle was repeated on day 29. Fifteen patients completed 2 courses of chemotherapy and among these, 2 patients had a complete clinical response (13%), 6 (40%) had a partial response, and 7 patients (47%) had no response. Four patients died during chemotherapy treatment. Grade 3 hematologic toxicity (ECOG criteria) was observed in 47% (7/15) of patients. Twenty-two patients were randomized to conventional treatment (surgery alone). Median survival time was 17 months in both groups. However, early survival appeared to be better in the control group. Kaplan-Meier survivals at 6 months were 69% and 89% and at 3 years were 31% and 36% for the induction chemotherapy group and control group, respectively. The survival time differences were not statistically significant (P = 0.186). These findings demonstrate that although this chemotherapy regimen had some effect on squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus, it did not improve survival. On the contrary, survival seems to be better in the control group. The 6-month survival discrepancy between both groups might be due to the poor nutritional status of our patients, who may better tolerate smaller dosages of chemotherapy.