[The nonexcisional palliative surgical treatment of carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus and cardia].

OBJECTIVE

To review our experience with the palliative treatment for unresectable carcinoma of the esophagus over a 15 years period. The available methods, their indications and results are analyzed.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

A retrospective study where the palliative methods used, their indication, their complications and the survival of the patients have been analyzed.

PATIENTS

A whole of 114 patients with unresectable carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus and esophagogastric junction, have been included.

RESULTS

The most widely used palliative method was the Celestine tube and the main indication was the unresectable tumor. Mean survival was 4.6 months, and mean hospital stay was 10 days.

CONCLUSIONS

The carcinoma of the esophagus is diagnosed too late. That's why, in most cases, it is unresectable. However, it is important to offer some palliative treatment to the patients to improve, if possible, their quality of life. We suggest that the requirements for a palliative method are the following: easy and quick technique, brief hospital stay, improvement of patient comfort and low morbimortality.