Clinical Study Of Weekly Paclitaxel Combined With Radiotherapy For Patients With Esophageal Cancer

Objective: To evaluate the treatment outcome and sideeffect of radiotherapy combined with weekly paclitaxel on esophageal cancer.Methods: From Dec 2000 to May 2003 a total of 67 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were enrolled in our hospital. 34 patients were treated with radiotherapy(60-66Gy) combined with weekly paclitaxel(CRT group). we compared the data with 33 patients during the same period received the same radiotherapy(RT group). Theχ2-test was performed to compare the treat outcome and sideeffect between the two groups. All patients were followed up for two years. The overall survival was estimaled by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The short-term results of CRT group was better than that of RT group. The difference between these two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The one and two year survival rate were 75.8%,57.6% in CRT group, survival rate were 51.5%,33.3% in RT group. The survival rates in CRT group were much better than those in RT group (P<0.05).Conclusion: Radiotherapy combined with weekly paclitaxe for esophageal cancer is effective and merits further study in the clinic.