However, today, the majority of mid-thoracic esophageal cancers are treated with a multi-modality regimen, and the incidence of AEF still remains extremely rare. One would expect the incidence to be higher if chemo-radiation caused pathologic changes within normal tissues to form a fistula tract between the esophagus and the aorta. Whether or not multimodality

regimen was initiated, our patient would have had the same poor outcome from the fistula formed by the tumor. If the diagnosis were made with enough time to treat, the decision Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical whether to surgically repair the fistula should be individualized, according to the response of the tumor to the chemotherapy, patient’s general Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical condition, and other operative risks. A Sengstaken esophageal balloon has been used either as a definitive treatment or as a temporizing measure before the definitive surgical procedure. Unfortunately, once the Chiari triad symptoms present, few patients have ever survived

long enough to be treated. Footnotes No potential conflict of interest.
In the current issue of the Journal of GI Oncology, May and colleagues present data on the longitudinal measurement of biochemical and SB203580 imaging parameters that define radiation nephropathy.(1) Since the total nephron volume dictates global renal function, it is understandable that injuries resulting from partial kidney irradiation result in decrease of nephron Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical number to impact global renal function. However, detection of global renal dysfunction by clinical or biochemical parameters often Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical requires substantial reductions in nephron number/volume. Furthermore,

the long latency for development of clinically or biochemically detectable renal dysfunction and the multiple confounding factors that contribute to these changes result in under-appreciation, under-diagnosis and under-reporting of radiation nephropathy. Early markers of renal function that are more sensitive than typical serum creatinine Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical measurements include creatinine clearance and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) – however, these require 24 hour urine collections ALOX15 or mathematical estimations using other variables and do not provide information on differential renal function. Another surrogate measure of renal function is Technetium99m renal scintigraphy which not only allows early and accurate detection of renal function but also allows determination of the relative function of each kidney. In turn, this offers the possibility of greater correlation with traditional radiation dose-volume parameters. May and colleagues examined changes in renal function as measured by scintigraphy in the months following concurrent chemoradiation therapy for a variety of gastrointestinal malignancies, comparing imaging characteristics in the kidney receiving a higher radiation dose to that in the kidney receiving a lower radiation dose.