[Perioperative radiotherapy of esophageal cancer]

The paper reports on the status of radiotherapy of carcinomas of the oesophagus both preoperatively and postoperatively. It is evident that sufficient radiotherapy in combination with chemotherapy produces an improvement in the lethality rate, but has no effect on the five year-survival rate. The optimal solution is preoperative radiotherapy as practised Nakayama's group, with subsequent postoperative irradiation. The palliative results of megavolt radiotherapy alone are excellent with regard to quality of life, but the overall course of the disease is not affected.