TY - JOUR
T1 - Endoscopic palliation of oesophageal cancer
T2 - Results of a prospective comparison of Nd:YAG laser and ethanol injection
AU - Carazzone, Aurora
AU - Bonavina, Luigi
AU - Segalin, Andrea
AU - Ceriani, Chiara
AU - Peracchia, Alberto
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of intratumoral alcohol injection compared with Nd:YAG laser in the treatment of unresectable fungating cancers of the oesophagus. Design: Prospective, randomised clinical study. Setting: University hospital, Italy. Subjects and interventions: 47 consecutive patients were randomly allocated to have endoscopic Nd:YAG laser treatment (n = 24), or intratumoural injection of 98% alcohol (n = 23). Main outcome measures: Morbidity, mortality, dysphagia score, survival. Results: One patient in the laser group needed analgesic support during and after the treatment, whereas 18 (78%) of those treated with alcohol experienced mild pain and most of them required analgesics. An improvement of at least 2 points in the dysphagia score was noted in 21 patients (88%) in the laser group and in 18 in the alcohol group (78%). The mean dysphagia-free intervals between each treatment were 30 and 37 days, respectively. The median survival was 6 months in each group. There were no significant differences in the mean dysphagia scores of patients still alive. There were no complications in the laser group, but one oesophageal perforation occurred during the preliminary dilatation before the second session of alcohol injection. There were no procedure-related deaths. Conclusion: The two techniques allowed similar palliation of dysphagia and improvement of quality of life. Intratumoral injection of alcohol is an effective and inexpensive therapeutic option in the palliation of fungating oesophageal lesions.
AB - Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of intratumoral alcohol injection compared with Nd:YAG laser in the treatment of unresectable fungating cancers of the oesophagus. Design: Prospective, randomised clinical study. Setting: University hospital, Italy. Subjects and interventions: 47 consecutive patients were randomly allocated to have endoscopic Nd:YAG laser treatment (n = 24), or intratumoural injection of 98% alcohol (n = 23). Main outcome measures: Morbidity, mortality, dysphagia score, survival. Results: One patient in the laser group needed analgesic support during and after the treatment, whereas 18 (78%) of those treated with alcohol experienced mild pain and most of them required analgesics. An improvement of at least 2 points in the dysphagia score was noted in 21 patients (88%) in the laser group and in 18 in the alcohol group (78%). The mean dysphagia-free intervals between each treatment were 30 and 37 days, respectively. The median survival was 6 months in each group. There were no significant differences in the mean dysphagia scores of patients still alive. There were no complications in the laser group, but one oesophageal perforation occurred during the preliminary dilatation before the second session of alcohol injection. There were no procedure-related deaths. Conclusion: The two techniques allowed similar palliation of dysphagia and improvement of quality of life. Intratumoral injection of alcohol is an effective and inexpensive therapeutic option in the palliation of fungating oesophageal lesions.
KW - Carcinoma
KW - Dysphagia
KW - Endoscopic treatment
KW - Esophageal stent
KW - Oesophagus
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U2 - 10.1080/110241599750006893
DO - 10.1080/110241599750006893
M3 - Article
C2 - 10365837
AN - SCOPUS:0032765653
VL - 165
SP - 351
EP - 356
JO - European Journal of Surgery, Acta Chirurgica
JF - European Journal of Surgery, Acta Chirurgica
SN - 1102-4151
IS - 4
ER -