Optimal management of gastroesophageal junction cancer Review


Authors: Greally, M.; Agarwal, R.; Ilson, D. H.
Review Title: Optimal management of gastroesophageal junction cancer
Abstract: Although recent decades have witnessed incremental improvements in the treatment of gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) carcinoma, outcomes remain modest. For locally advanced esophageal cancer, the addition of chemotherapy and/or radiation to surgery is considered the standard of care. Chemotherapy remains the primary treatment for metastatic disease and improves survival over best supportive care. However, the prognosis for patients with GEJ cancers, which are treated along the same paradigms as esophageal and gastric carcinomas, remain poor because of the emergence of chemoresistance and limited targeted therapeutic approaches, which include agents that target the HER2 and vascular endothelial growth factor pathways. Evaluation of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the chemorefractory setting have confirmed the activity of immunotherapy in esophagogastric cancer. Ongoing immunotherapeutic strategies are being evaluated in both the locally advanced and metastatic settings. This review focuses on the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic GEJ carcinomas, which encompass all tumors that have an epicenter within 5 cm proximal or distal to the anatomical Z-line (Siewert classification). Because the vast majority of GEJ tumors are adenocarcinoma, the management of adenocarcinoma is the focus of this review. Evolving approaches and areas of clinical equipoise are discussed. © 2019 American Cancer Society
Keywords: chemotherapy; adenocarcinoma; immunotherapy; targeted therapy; chemoradiation; gastroesophageal junction cancer; (18f)2-fluoro-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (fdg-pet)
Journal Title: Cancer
Volume: 125
Issue: 12
ISSN: 0008-543X
Publisher: Wiley Blackwell  
Date Published: 2019-06-15
Start Page: 1990
End Page: 2001
Language: English
DOI: 10.1002/cncr.32066
PUBMED: 30973648
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI/URL:
Notes: Review -- Source: Scopus
Altmetric
Citation Impact
BMJ Impact Analytics
MSK Authors
  1. David H Ilson
    435 Ilson
  2. Rajiv Agarwal
    12 Agarwal
  3. Megan Greally
    30 Greally