[Biweekly paclitaxel and platinum chemotherapy followed by surgery for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma]

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of biweekly paclitaxel and platinum chemotherapy followed by surgery for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological data of 20 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated in our hospital between January 2012 and March 2016. All patients received biweekly paclitaxel and platinum chemotherapy followed by surgery. Results: 20 cases received preoperative chemotherapy for 3-8 cycles with an average of 4 cycles. The main chemotherapy-related adverse events were bone marrow suppression (18/20, 90.0%), followed by vomiting and nausea (10/20, 50.0%). Five patients (25.0%) had grade 4 neutropenia and all toxicities were torlerable and manageable. After chemotherapy, all patients received surgery. The histological responses in the primary tumors were grade 1 in 13 (65.0%) patients, grade 2 in 7 (35.0%) patients, and grade 3 in 0 (0%) patient. None had disease progression. Downstaging of T-stage was observed in 5 cases (25.0%) after chemotherapy. Among them, 4 cases were with moderate histologicl responses and one case with mild histological response. The incidence of postoperative complications was 25.0%(5/20), and the complications were improved following symptomatic treatments. There was no treatment-related death. Conclusions: Biweekly paclitaxel and platinum chemotherapy followed by surgery for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is safe and effective. Further randomized clinical trial should be conducted to assess the value of this therapeutic regimen in the preoperative chemotherapy for esophageal cancer.