JTCS Click here to go to SJM website.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Personal Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Author home page(s):
Valerie W. Rusch
Right arrow Permission Requests
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rusch, V. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rusch, V. W.
Related Collections
Right arrow Esophagus - cancer
Right arrowRelated Article

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;125:992-993
© 2003 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Editorials

Should the esophageal cancer staging system be revised?

Valerie W. Rusch, MD

From the Thoracic Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY.

Received for publication Sept 20, 2002. Accepted for publication Oct 21, 2002. Address for reprints: Valerie W. Rusch, MD, Chief, Thoracic Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave, New York, NY 10021 (E-mail: ruschv@mskcc.org).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

See related article on page 1103.


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
View larger version (123K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		Dr Rusch

 
Accurate TNM staging plays a pivotal role in cancer management and research. The TNM staging system for esophageal cancer is frequently viewed with discontent by thoracic surgeons. Yet, the sixth editions of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) staging manuals, published in 2002, offered minimal changes in the chapter on esophageal staging.Go Go 1,2 The AJCC chapter notes the remarkable epidemiologic shift that has occurred in this disease with a rapid increase in the number of adenocarcinomas of the distal esophagus and gastroesophageal junction. The location of the lymph nodes involved by gastroesophageal junction tumors was added to the section on nodal descriptors, and a lymph node map previously proposed by Casson and colleaguesGo 3 was added to encourage uniform nomenclature of lymph nodes removed at surgery. However, the TNM descriptors and stage classifications were not changed from the previous editions of the staging manuals.

The lack of change in the esophageal staging system frustrates many surgeons who believe that it does not stratify patients appropriately for prognosis. However, a staging system must be evidence-based, prognostically accurate, easy to use, and internationally accepted. The AJCC task . . . [Full Text of this Article]


Related Article

Refining esophageal cancer staging
Thomas W. Rice, Eugene H. Blackstone, Lisa A. Rybicki, David J. Adelstein, Sudish C. Murthy, Malcolm M. DeCamp, and John R. Goldblum
J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2003 125: 1103-1113. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Arch SurgHome page
M. Deeter, R. Dorer, M. K. Kuppusamy, R. P. Koehler, and D. E. Low
Assessment of Criteria and Clinical Significance of Circumferential Resection Margins in Esophageal Cancer
Arch Surg, July 1, 2009; 144(7): 618 - 624.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg.Home page
H. Li, Q. Zhang, L. Xu, Y. Chen, Y. Wei, and G. Zhou
Factors predictive of prognosis after esophagectomy for squamous cell cancer.
J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., January 1, 2009; 137(1): 55 - 59.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
ANN THORAC SURG ASIAN CARDIOVASC THORAC ANN EUR J CARDIOTHORAC SURG
J THORAC CARDIOVASC SURG ICVTS ALL CTSNet JOURNALS
Copyright © 2003 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery.