Esophagectomy in Treating Patients With High-Grade Dysplasia of the Esophagus or Stage I, Stage II, or Stage III Esophageal Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •High grade dysplasia of the esophagus who would undergo esophagectomy OR esophageal cancer at stage T1-T3, N0-N1 who require esophagectomy (patients with M1 disease and/or bulky lymph node involvement were excluded).
• •Pathological confirmation of a diagnosis of cancer or high-grade dysplasia of the esophagus by biopsy.
• •Computerized tomography (CT) scan of chest and abdomen within 6 weeks prior to registration
• •Stomach must be available for conduit
• •Age of 18 and over
• •ECOG performance status of 0-2
• •Creatinine less than 2 mg/dL
• •Patients with esophageal cancer who would be treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation were eligible. If patients were registered prior to receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy they were allowed up to 5 months to complete therapy and any restaging that was necessary before operation was performed.
• •The patient was considered an appropriate candidate for surgery based on preoperative clinical staging and physiological factors prior to registration as documented in the surgical plan. Pre-operative staging should include:
• •* Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
• •* Positron emission tomography (PET) scan and/or laparoscopic staging (Laparoscopic staging could be performed on the day of resection. Additional evaluation was recommended if the PET scan suggested distant metastatic disease.)