Cryotherapy in addition to chemotherapy for palliation of inoperable esophageal cancer: A multicenter prospective study.

Authors

null

Toufic Kachaamy

Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Zion, IL

Toufic Kachaamy , Neil R. Sharma , Rahul Pannala , Jeffrey Weber , Kimberly Gorsuch , Yashika Young , Christina Salas , Christina M. Zelt , Heather Werling , Digant Gupta , Pankaj G. Vashi

Organizations

Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Zion, IL, Parkview Health, Fort Wayne, IN, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, Western Regional Medical Center, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Goodyear, AZ, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Phoenix, AZ, Parkview Research Center, Fort Wayne, IN, Parkview, Fort Wayne, IN, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Midwestern Regional Medical Center, Zion, IL

Research Funding

No funding received
None

Background: Palliation of dysphagia (Dys) in patients with inoperable esophageal cancer (EC) can be challenging. The major goal of palliation therapy is to improve patient’s quality of life (QoL) and Dys and allow adequate caloric intake. The most commonly used palliative modalities for Dys are radiation therapy (RT) and esophageal stenting. However, RT is limited by total dose and adverse events (AE) in patients receiving systemic therapy (ST), and stenting suffers from a high rate of AE including reflux and chest pain. A relatively new modality of liquid nitrogen endoscopic spray cryotherapy (cryo) has been reported in retrospective studies to improve Dys in patients receiving systemic therapy. We prospectively evaluated Dys and QoL of patients with inoperable EC undergoing cryo in addition to ST for palliation. Methods: A prospective multicenter study of 24 adult inoperable EC patients undergoing cryo and ST for palliation at 4 specialized cancer centers from Sep 2017 to Aug 2019. QoL was assessed using a modified EORTC QLQ-OES18 questionnaire (score 18 to 72, with higher scores indicating worse QoL). Dys was measured using a 4-point Likert scale: 0, no Dys; 1, Dys to solids; 2, Dys to semi-solids; 3, Dys to liquids; 4, Dys to saliva. Paired t-test was used to evaluate change in QoL and Dys between pre- and post-cryo. Results: There were 19 males and 5 females (17 stage IV, 5 stage III, and 2 stage II at diagnosis). Among 24 patients, a total of 71 cryo were performed, with a mean of 2.9 treatments per patient. After a median follow-up of 2 months, the mean EORTC score improved significantly from 35.4 at baseline to 25.5 at last follow-up (p < 0.001). Similarly, the Dys score improved significantly from 2.0 at baseline to 0.87 at last follow-up (p < 0.001). Grade 3 or higher AE were seen in only one patient (4%) who had GI bleeding 2 weeks after cryo and was diagnosed with bleeding from severe reflux esophagitis related to gastric outlet obstruction. Conclusions: The analysis of this multicenter prospective study shows that cryo in addition to ST for palliation of EC is well tolerated with significant improvement in Dys and QoL.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session A: Esophageal and Gastric Cancer and Other GI Cancers

Track

Esophageal and Gastric Cancer,Other GI Cancer

Sub Track

Quality of Care/Quality Improvement

Citation

J Clin Oncol 38, 2020 (suppl 4; abstr 342)

Abstract #

342

Poster Bd #

C17

Abstract Disclosures

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