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Medical Author:

Robert J Fingerote, MD, MSc, BSc

Medical Editor:

Scott H Plantz, MD, FAAEM

Medical Editor:

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD

Medical Editor:

Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEP

Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEP

Dr. Balentine received his undergraduate degree from McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He attended medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine graduating in1983. He completed his internship at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia and his Emergency Medicine residency at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, where he served as chief resident.

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Prognosis

When the esophageal cancer has spread to organs beyond the esophagus, long-term survival is uncommon.

The chance of recovery improves when doctors detect the cancer at an early stage. But in most cases, long-term survival remains below 30%.

• Once cancer invades the muscle layer of the esophagus, most people already have developed widespread cancer.



• For these people, cancers invariably come back following surgical removal. Few people survive long term.
  
  
  • Following completion of therapy, whether with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of these, the patient needs regular follow-up endoscopic examinations as well as repeat CT scans of the chest and abdomen.
  
  
  
  • Often, people who undergo surgery of their esophagus develop significant narrowing at the site of the surgery. They require frequent esophageal dilatations or insertion of stents.