Puja Gaur1, Min P Kim1, Brian J Dunkin2
1Department of Thoracic; Department of General Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, Houston Methodist Hospital, 6550 Fannin Street, Suite 1661, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
2Department of General Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, Houston Methodist Hospital, 6550 Fannin Street, Suite 1661, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
DOI: 10.4103/1477-3163.143720
ABSTRACT
The incidence of esophageal cancer remains on the rise worldwide and despite aggressive research in the field of gastrointestinal oncology, the survival remains poor. Much remains to be defined in esophageal cancer, including the development of an effective screening tool, identifying a good tumor marker for surveillance purposes, ways to target esophageal cancer stem cells as well as circulating tumor cells, and developing minimally invasive protocols to treat early-stage disease. The goal of this chapter is to highlight some of the recent advances and ongoing research in the field of esophageal cancer.
Keywords: Barrett′s, cancer stem cells, carcinogenesis/tumorigenesis, dysplasia, esophageal cancer, targeted therapy