To characterize the treatment and outcome of patients with cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer, the authors retrospectively reviewed the 11-year experience from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Thirty-five patients with M0 cervical or upper thoracic esophageal cancer and treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy were analyzed. Median radiation dose was 50.4 Gy (range, 24.5-64.8) Gy delivered with 1.8-Gy daily fractions over 5.5 weeks. Chemotherapy was 5-fluorouracil based. Response after treatment was evaluated on the basis of radiography, biopsy, or both. The survival rates were calculated by means of the Kaplan-Meier method.

The median follow-up for the surviving patients was 39 months. The actuarial 5-year overall survival (OS), cause-specific survival, disease-free survival, local relapse-free survival, and distant metastasis-free survival rates were 18.6%, 27.6%, 22.4%, 47.7%, and 57.0%, respectively. Patients who received a radiation dose of greater than or equal to 50 Gy had a higher complete response rate than those who received less than 50 Gy (79.2% versus 27.3%; p = 0.003). On multivariate analysis, radiation dose was the only protective factor associated with the rates of OS (p = 0.006), cause-specific survival (p = 0.003), and local relapse-free survival (p = 0.001); tumor stage was the only factor associated with rate of disease-free survival (p = 0.007).

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is an effective treatment modality for patients with cervical and upper thoracic esophageal cancer. The authors' results suggest that a total radiation dose of 50 to 65 Gy with a concurrent chemotherapy regimen may improve local control and the OS rate in this rare type of esophageal cancer.