Proton Beam vs. External Beam Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer

Chemoradiation, as either preoperative treatment or definitive treatment without surgery, is a care standard for patients with esophageal cancer. To determine if replacing conventional external beam radiotherapy with proton beam radiotherapy would lessen toxicity associated with chemoradiation without compromising efficacy, investigators conducted a multicenter, randomized, phase II trial involving 107 patients (median age, 67 years) with locally advanced esophageal cancer.

Patients received 28 fractions of radiation for a total dose of 5040 cGy plus chemotherapy. The majority of patients (55%) received fluorouracil, capecitabine, and a taxane; 22% received carboplatin plus a taxane; and 19% received fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin. Most patie…