[Radiotherapy of esophageal cancer (author's transl)]

There is general agreement on the effectiveness of radiotherapy in the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and the advantage of rotation technique with conventional as well as supervoltage therapy. The use of small fields in order to reduce the possibility of damage to neighbouring structures requires a more accurate positioning of the target than the use of large fields. In kilovoltage therapy this was guaranteed by controlling the field by fluoroscopy and by the possibility for correction during irradiation. This accuracy and possibility for correction is not yet reliably obtainable in supervoltage therapy as demonstrated by the number of complications reported. In the future, more fractionation, possibly using a higher initial dose, followed by hyperthermia, should be contemplated in order to reduce the total dose. The combination with chemotherapy deserves further development as well. For the treatment of operable tumors, preoperative irradiation with 2000-3000 rads immediately followed by resection is again recommended.