Oesophageal cancer – ASCO 2009

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy followed by the surgical resection of residual disease has become the most common treatment strategy for locally advanced disease despite the lack of a convincing phase III trial supporting this treatment approach. This year’s ASCO meeting saw the presentation of the first results of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy replacing old drugs such as Cisplatin by newer substances such as Oxaliplatin, Docetaxel and the integration of biological agents into the preoperative approach.