Pathological response and serum VEGF changes during chemoradiotherapy for esophageal carcinoma

Abstract

The aim of this study was to observe pathological response and change in serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in esophageal carcinoma (EC) during chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Eighty-nine patients diagnosed with EC were treated with radiotherapy at the Department of Radiotherapy of the Second People's Hospital of Changzhou between May 2008 and December 2014, including 65 patients with CRT. Gastroscopy and pathological examination were conducted 4 weeks afterwards. The pathological responses were classified as complete response (CR) and non-CR. Serum samples were collected from the patients before radiotherapy, during week 4 of radiotherapy, and 1 week after radiotherapy. The VEGF changes were classified as increase, stable, and decrease. The median overall survival (OS) and median progression-free survival (PFS) in the pathological CR group was significantly longer than that of the non-CR group (P