Early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its effects on therapy: an overview

Squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus shows a wide variation in incidence worldwide. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in men and usually diagnosed at an advanced stage with unsatisfactory therapeutic results. The techniques available for early detection of esophageal carcinoma are reviewed in this paper, as well as its overall effect on survival. For the time being, only surgical resection at a very early stage may improve survival of the disease. Esophageal cancer can be treated at an earlier stage when it is diagnosed by mass screening detection. However, despite a high survival rate at 5 years, local recurrences and distal metastases may still occur even 10 years after treatment. Prevention and therapeutic intervention at an earlier stage before the oncologic process has resulted in cancer changes is necessary to alter the natural evolution of the disease.