Multimodal Treatment and Supportive Care of Advanced Adenocarcinoma of the Esophagogastric Junction

Multimodal Treatment and Supportive Care of Advanced Adenocarcinoma of the Esophagogastric Junction Patients with advanced adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction usually benefit from a multimodal approach. Interdisciplinary treatment options depend on symptoms, tumor localization and individual risk factors. Local treatment modalities include endoscopic stenting and hemostasis, palliative resection and radiotherapy. Systemic chemotherapy usually combines two or three cytostatic drugs and can improve overall survival by constraining growth of distant organ metastases. Remarkably, even symptomatic stenosis can sometimes be relieved by active cytotoxic combination approaches. The choice of cytotoxic agents depends on tolerable toxicity and expected prognosis. Stenting usually does not affect prognosis but has a significant impact on improving quality of life whereas radiotherapy might contribute to both quality of life and overall prognosis. Advanced adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction is therefore an excellent example for the benefit of a multimodal therapeutic approach in the potentially curative as well as palliative setting. Usually, these patients benefit from interdisciplinary treatment strategies.