[Preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy with a combination of 5-fluorouracil, adriamycin and cisplatin (FAP) for advanced esophageal cancer invading trachea or main bronchus].

Conventional irradiation and systemic chemotherapy is scarcely effective for advanced esophageal cancer invading trachea or main bronchus. Therefore, to reduce the area of invasion and suppress distant metastasis, we have preoperatively treated 4 patients suffering from advanced esophageal cancer invading the trachea or main bronchus by neoadjuvant chemotherapy (FAP) as follows: 2 times every 4 weeks, CDDP 100 mg and ADR 50 mg on day 1 and continuous infusion of 5-FU 1,000 mg/day for 7 days. The response rate (PR) was 75% (3/4). In 2 of 4 patients (50%), no cancer cells except broad fibrosis were detected histologically in the region of the trachea or main bronchus suspected to be invaded. There was no severe complication. This FAP regimen is suspected to be useful chemotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer.