What is the highest dose to which you treat a locally advanced esophageal cancer with a stent in place?
Would you ever treat with definitive intent in a "curative" patient who has a stent placed, or only palliatively? Does the addition of chemotherapy or the type of stent play into this decision?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Community Practice
Shin et al., PMID 15640412 Since it appears that covered temporary or permanent stents are relatively safe with radiotherapy and that the palliative and curative doses are the same, 5040 cGy should be reasonable.The addition of chemotherapy will definitely increase toxicity but may be considere...
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Community Practice
I still treat with chemoradiation, but sometimes do back off to 45Gy instead of going to 50.4 if there's a decent amount of gastric involvement. Perhaps that's overly cautious, however.