Standard Treatment  Stage I cancer is treatable and occasionally curable. Surgical removal of the tumor is the treatment of choice, with the highest success rate for cancer in the lower third of the esophagus. About 4 in. (10 cm) of the esophagus and the adjacent lymph nodes are removed. With surgery, there is a 5 to 10 percent mortality rate and a 15 to 30 percent complication rate.
    Radiation therapy may effectively control and sometimes cure small tumors. Side effects of radiation therapy can include a short-term inflammation of the esophagus and the development of a benign stricture (30 percent), which can be dilated.
    There is no standard chemotherapy , but recent studies suggest that combined radiation and chemotherapy (with 5-FU + cisplatin or 5-FU + mitomycin-C) may possibly achieve a clinical remission and cure for Stages I or II cancers. This may be in conjunction with or instead of surgery.

Palliation  Surgery and radiation therapy can relieve swallowing problems in about 80 percent of cases.

Five-Year Survival  Over 50 percent 

Investigational 
• Protocols using combinations of chemotherapy and radiosensitizers, along with radiation therapy before or
  after surgery, are being evaluated.