Cochrane

Review question How does key-hole (laparoscopic) abdominal surgery compare to standard (open) abdominal surgery for people with food-pipe (oesophageal) cancer? Background The oesophagus (food pipe) is located mainly in the chest; it enters the abdomen (tummy) through an opening in the diaphragm (muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen). ...

Review question Is non-surgical treatment equivalent to surgical treatment for treatment of people with oesophageal cancer (cancer of the gullet or food pipe)? Background Oesophageal cancer is the sixth most frequent cause of cancer-related death in the world and is becoming more common. Treatment and survival depends upon the extent of cancer. ...

Review question This systematic review was conducted to compare two different methods for placing a feeding tube to the stomach via an opening in the skin (known as percutaneous gastrostomy) in order to provide food to an individual with swallowing difficulties; the aim was to find the most effective and safe approach. Background Placing a feeding ...

Review question Chinese herbal medicine is widely used as adjunct therapy to chemo- or radiotherapy in patients being treated for cancer of the oesophagus. As yet there is no evidence that Chinese herbal medicine is effective or not in this role. Background We performed a systematic review of the potential benefits of Chinese herbal medicine by ...

Background A number of conditions compromise the transport of food along the digestive tract. Patients with swallowing disturbances can develop low nutritional status, which affects their recovery from illness, surgery, and injury. Conditions associated with swallowing disorders include stroke, neurological diseases, dementia, cancers of the head ...

Question In patients who have cancer of the esophagus that is potentiallly removable by surgery, does the use of chemotherapy before surgery result in improved survival? Background Cancer of the esophagus often is not discovered until it is at quite an advanced stage. This means that even removing the tumor through surgery is not very successful, ...

Oesophagectomy followed by oesophagogastrostomy, in which an anastomosis between the residual oesophagus and the stomach substitute is made, remains the standard surgery for patients with oesophageal cancer. Whichever surgical procedure is chosen, that is, transthoracic oesophagectomy (TTE) with direct visualisation of the thoracic oesophagus or transhiatal ...

This systematic review uses the data of individual patients from eight and published data from another six randomized controlled trials. We found that the administration of chemotherapy before surgery leads to longer survival in patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, the junction between esophagus and stomach, and the stomach. The findings suggest ...

Oesophageal cancer is a common cause of cancer related death in the world. The prognosis in the advanced stages is unfavourable, but the early oesophageal cancers are asymptomatic and curable, and usually go undetected until they have spread beyond the oesophageal wall. Endoscopy with iodine staining or cytologic examination are two common screening ...

This Cochrane review has indicated that there are no randomised controlled trials to compare management options in this vital area, therefore trials should be undertaken as a matter of urgency. Current use of endotherapies in the care of patients with early cancer or high-grade dysplasia of Barrett's oesophagus should be at the recommendation of the ...