Targeted Therapies for Esophageal Cancer by William P. Tew, David P. Kelsen, David H. Ilson

I am really unsure about posting this...I'll only post some of the abstract...

I have found an article published in 2005 by some of the leaders at Sloan Kettering. It is intended to instruct other doctors ..so it is very technical and it is now 5 years old..so some information may now be out of date..

DO NOT READ THE ARTICLE IF LOW SURVIVAL RATES WILL MAKE YOU ANXIOUS.
This article is now 5 years old and based upon survival rates of TEN YEARS AGO. Things are better today.


My husband, a non smoker, did not drink alcohol, was not overweight, did not have acid reflux and was very physically active. But he did have a very poor diet...and i blame myself for not pushing him to eat better...but he seemed so healthy. My view is that every cancer patient should immediately be given information about diet and not told to "eat whatever you want."

Something in our environment is causing this outbreak of cancer and treating cancer after it has occurred is palliative medical practice.




http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/content/full/10/8/590

The Oncologist, Vol. 10, No. 8, 590-601, September 2005; doi:10.1634/theoncologist.10-8-590

Targeted Therapies for Esophageal Cancer

William P. Tew, David P. Kelsen, David H. Ilson
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Oncology, New York, New York, USA

This is part of the abstract:

Esophageal cancer is a highly aggressive neoplasm. In 2005, 14,520 Americans will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer,....(section deleted).... On a global basis, cancer of the esophagus is the sixth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In fact, gastric and esophageal cancers together accounted for nearly 1.3 million new cases and 980,000 deaths worldwide in 2000—more than lung, breast, or colorectal cancer. Although esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cases have steadily declined, the incidence of gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma has increased 4%–10% per year among U.S. men since 1976, more rapidly than for any other cancer type, and parallels rises in population trends in obesity and reflux disease.

With advances in surgical techniques and treatment, the prognosis of esophageal cancer has slowly improved over the past three decades. ....(section deleted)... Clearly, additional strategies are needed to detect esophageal cancer earlier and to improve our systemic treatment options. Over the past decade, the field of drug development has been transformed with the identification of and ability to direct treatment at specific molecular targets. This review focuses on novel targeted treatments in development for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and distal esophageal and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.