RESUMEN
Background and Objectives: Despite decades of experience with definitive chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) in cervical oesophageal cancer (CEC), the loco-regional control and survival outcomes are dismal. This review evaluated the outcomes of various treatment strategies being commonly utilized. Materials and methods: A literature review was conducted to identify relevant articles on CEC published from years 2000-2023 addressing the predefined key questions. These questions focussed on the comparative outcomes of various primary treatment approaches (surgery, CRT, or trimodality treatment) and the radiation dose schedules, volumes, and techniques. Results: CRT is the standard approach for treatment for CEC so far. The potential role of surgery and trimodality approach in settings of evolving surgical approaches needs to be validated. The high dose schedules that are preferentially practiced in CEC have not shown any benefit in improving the disease outcomes over the standard dose schedule of 50.4 Gy. The target volume delineation practice of elective nodal irradiation (ENI) does not have a proven benefit over the involved field irradiation (IFI). The limited evidence on radiation techniques suggests that intensity-modulated radiotherapy/volumetric-modulated arc therapy (IMRT/VMAT) techniques can improve toxicity profile over three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), but no advantage proven in disease outcomes so far. Conclusion: This review will guide clinicians in decision-making for the management of this relatively rare entity and the directions for future research in these areas. Future large-scale multicentre prospective studies are needed for validating and standardizing our current practices and exploring potential options to improve the outcomes.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Multiple primary malignancy (MPM) is defined as occurrence of two or more synchronous or metachronous primary malignancies. With the rise in cancer burden and meticulous screening of index primary malignancy (IPM) during treatment, increased incidence of second primary malignancy (SPM) is expected. This study was undertaken with an attempt to analyze the incidence, commonest associations, management strategies, and clinical outcomes of MPM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is an observational retrospective study carried out in a single institute with patients registered between 1st January 2015 and 31st August 2019. The International Association of Cancer Registries and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IACR/IARC) definition was used for identification of IPM and SPM. Synchronous SPM was defined as malignancy occurring within 6 months from the diagnosis of IPM. RESULTS: Out of 16,461 registered patients during the study interval, 44 (0.26%) cases were found to have MPM. A total of 31 (70.5%) cases were women and 13 (29.5%) cases were men. Median age at presentation of IPM was 48 years and of SPM was 56 years, with median duration between two primaries being 38 months. Seven patients (15.9%) had synchronous malignancies. Gynecological tumors were the most common site of IPM presentation (n = 14, 31.8%) followed by breast (n = 09, 20.5%) and head and neck tumors (n = 07, 15.9%), respectively. The most common SPM was gynecological tumors (n = 12, 27.3%) followed by gastrointestinal malignancies (n = 10, 23.3%). Curative treatment was offered to 88% of patients with IPM and 70% patients with SPM. At a median follow-up of 365 days, 21 (47.72%) patients were disease free, six (13.6%) died of disease and nine (20.5%) were lost to follow-up. CONCLUSION: The study emphasizes the importance of detecting SPM as a result of improved diagnostic and screening procedures. Clinicians should be aware of it and offer multidisciplinary management.