Abstract
Early diagnosis of carcinoma of the esophagus is essential. Most patients die within fourteen months of onset of symptoms. Complete obstruction usually occurs within seven months after onset. Every case of dysphagia with or without pain occurring in a male thirty-five years of age or over, not due to proven cardiovascular disease, should be fully investigated for carcinoma of the esophagus. Esophagectomy offers the only possibility of cure (Thorek's patient lived eleven years) and real palliation; otherwise the mortality is 100 per cent. Operative mortality ranges from 7 to 25 per cent in the best hands. The duration of palliation ranged from six months to four years. However, those patients who do survive have real palliation and can eat and drink normally with comparative comfort. Follow-up of operations are too short to evaluate five-year cures, particularly in carcinoma of the midthoracic region as all cases were done since 1944.
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