Gastrointestinal Tumors - Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer can be treated successfully with multimodality treatment.   A combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy alone can be used if the disease is surgically removable or radiation and chemotherapy can be given before or after surgery if that is performed.  There are several ways radiation can be used.  3D conformal external beam radiation is a technique that utilizes three-dimensional imaging to more accurately target the lesion and to reduce the normal tissue damage.  The second type is brachytherapy, which incorporates an active source within a catheter to allow the delivery of a high dose of radiation to a small volume of tissue.  The main side effects of treatment are painful swallowing, fatigue, weight loss, and loss of appetite.

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