Short- and long-term outcomes of definitive chemoradiotherapy in patients with esophageal carcinoma aged >= 75 years

The most relevant treatment modalities in elderly patients with esophageal carcinoma (EC) remain a subject of debate. Combined definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is currently widely accepted as a non-surgical treatment for esophageal cancer. However, elderly patients were excluded from the majority of studies on CRT, or the proportion of elderly patients was relatively low in those studies and the number of available studies on the treatment of EC patients aged >= 75 years is limited. The aim of the present retrospective study was to analyze the safety and efficacy of CRT in patients aged >= 75 years in order to assess the short- and long-term outcomes of CRT for elderly patients with EC. In this study, based on further refinement of patient age groups and analysis of the Charlson comorbidity score, we performed a statistical analysis of factors such as short-term response, long-term survival and toxicity reactions. The results of the analysis indicated that the treatment of patients with EC aged >= 75 years with radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy was effective. However, we recommend that customized treatment is based on the stratification of patients into different age groups and the Charlson score, as for patients aged >= 80 years a lower-dose therapy may be more beneficial and for patients aged >= 85 years definitive CRT should be administered with greater caution.