Background & objective: Owing to the lack of a systematic comparative study, it still remains a controversial issue whether a patient with malignant esophageal tumor causing dysphagia should receive radiotherapy or/and chemotherapy after the SEMS (self-expanding esophageal metal stents) implantation operation. The present paper aims at a careful study of this field.
Methods: A total of 283 specimens were divided into two groups, namely, the group merely receiving the SEMS implantation operation (Group 1, n=91) and the group receiving a combined treatment of the SEMS implantation operation followed by radiotherapy /and chemotherapy (Group 2, n=192). The survival time of the patients in the two different groups was compared and the factors associated with the survival time were analyzed by means of Cox regression method.
Results: The survival time of the patients in group 2 was apparently much longer than that of the patients in group 1 (499.27+/-239.7 days and 312.81+/-192.77 days, respectively, P< 0.0001). The factors associated with the survival time included the choice of treatment method, incidence of distant metastasis and lymph node metastasis, formation of esophageal fistula and the location of diseased area. Among them the relative risk of treatment method is the highest.
Conclusion: A combined treatment of SEMS implantation operation followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy is significantly associated with the effect of treatment and will undoubtedly prolong the life of the patients with malignant esophageal tumor causing dysphagia.