Re-irradiation of locoregional esophageal cancer recurrence following definitive chemoradiotherapy: A report of 6 cases

There is currently no consensus on salvage therapy for recurrent esophageal cancer. Salvage surgery is a well-established option for attaining long-term survival; however, it is associated with a high risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality. A total of 6 patients who underwent re-irradiation for recurrence of locoregional esophageal cancer following definitive chemoradiotherapy were investigated. The median interval between initial radiotherapy and re-irradiation was 17.4 months (range, 6.4-59.2 months). Re-irradiation salvage therapy was mostly administered with concurrent chemotherapy, which consisted of several cycles of nedaplatin on day 1 and oral S-1 administration on days 1-14. The median survival after re-irradiation was 13.6 months (range, 1.9-33.3 months). A total of 3 patients who completed hyperfractionated radiation therapy survived for >1 year. One patient has had no signs of recurrence or late radiation toxicity for >2 years. Severe acute hematological adverse events (AEs) occurred in 3 patients, including 1 case of grade 4 leukopenia. One severe late AE occurred in 1 patient, who developed grade 3 dysphagia and became permanently dependent on percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube feeding. Salvage radiotherapy is considered to be a good treatment option for inoperable locoregional recurrent esophageal cancer. The results of the present study demonstrated that re-irradiation, with or without chemotherapy, for recurrent esophageal carcinoma after definitive chemoradiotherapy was tolerable and yielded reasonably satisfactory results.