What is the prognosis for esophogeal cancer?

Poor: Esophageal cancers are usually very aggressive. If they have spread outside of the esophagus can usually not be cured. The life expectancy of most esophageal tumors is measured in weeks to months. However, if the cancer is limited to the lining (high grade dysplasia) or is small in size, surgery with or without chemoradiation can help. Visit: http://www.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov/pubmedhealth/pmh0001328/.

Varies with stage: Early stage esophageal cancers can be cured with combination therapy (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy) in more than a 1/3 cases while the prognosis for advanced and stage 4 cases is very poor; overall survival at 5 years is 20-25% for all comers.