[Diagnostics and treatment of esophageal cancers]

The incidence of esophageal cancer has increased markedly during the past 3 decades, especially due to an increase of the incidence of adenocarcinoma. The prognosis for patients with esophageal cancer is poor, with a 5-year survival rate of 10-25%. The important risk factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma are smoking and alcohol intake. Esophageal adenocarcinomas are related to gastro-esophageal reflux disease. The diagnostic procedures are not only focused on obtaining diagnoses, but also on determining how advanced the tumor is. If a patient is fit enough to undergo surgery and no evidence is found that the tumor has spread to adjacent organs or that there are distant metastases, a surgical resection is the primary treatment. In case surgical resection is not an option, palliative treatment is generally needed to reduce the complaints of dysphagia. The improvement or maintenance of the quality of life and symptom-control are important goals of both curative and palliative treatment of esophageal cancer.