Abstract
The effect of per-operative combined therapy with radiation as its main component was evaluated by surgical specimen in 173 cases of esophageal cancer from 1969 to 1982. The main points of the present investigation were: a) establishment of criteria to judge the effects of combined therapy; b) correlation between the histological features and the criteria established; and c) evaluation of the predictive effects of the combined therapy through endoscopical findings. According to the judgment criteria, the effect was classified in 4 types: complete response, partial response, minor improvement and no improvement. A significant correlation was found between the histological features and the pre-established criteria. Moreover, taking into account the changes of the endoscopic findings due to combined therapy, it was found that the most appropriate time to judge its effects were between two or three days before the operation. In order to estimate the predictable effect of the pre-operative combined therapy we considered the three following items related to the main tumor: a) the configuration of the elevation; b) the exposure of the cancerous region after using lugol solution; and c) the configuration of the oral side of the tumor. The first 2 items were subdivided in 4 types; and the third one in 3 types. For each case, the sum of the above mentioned items was used as the index of evaluation of the effect. According to the pre-operative combined therapy which was used, the indices found for effects EF1, EF2 and EF3 were : -0.180±0.303, -0.010±0.291 and 0.183±0.142, respectively. A good correlation was found between this index of evaluation and the recent clinical cases.
