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What is the timing for surgery (esophagectomy) after chemoradiation?

Posted by pat888 @pat888, Aug 6, 2023

I am concerned with a delay for surgery after my treatment with chemoradiation. What are the standard wait times before surgery. Is it 8 weeks, 10 weeks or more. I understand that surgery has to timely to avoid scar tissue forming after radiation which makes the operation more difficult and can produce bad outcomes. What is the maximum time before surgery?

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pat888 | @pat888 | Aug 15, 2023
In reply to @pj03 "My husband was on track with his chemo / radiation regime , his 3 inch tumor..." + (show)
@pj03

My husband was on track with his chemo / radiation regime , his 3 inch tumor in lower esophagus has shrunk some but early pet scan showed no “ hot spots”. His surgery was in time frame of 6 weeks after therapy. He came to UCLA for preop Angiogram ordered after Stress echocardiogram came back with poor results. The angiogram revealed 5 blocked ( main artery 100%) coronary arteries which earned him a free pass to 4 vessel heart bypass surgery two days later!!! Talk about a big wrench thrown in! But his thoracic surgeon saw him before surgery and feels we can still be in the good window of time to have his surgery 6-8 weeks after this bypass. So that is around 12-14 weeks after chemo and radiation. She is one of the top thoracic surgeons that have done lots of esophagectomies so I’m glad she feels we are still on course.
Hope this helps
Patti

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Many thanks Patti....this has been very helpful
All the best
Pat

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roger72 | @roger72 | Aug 21, 2023

My husband has stage 1 esophagus cancer and are evaluating treatments. Can someone tell me about esophagectomy and how they faired after?

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1 reply
doglover888 | @doglover888 | Aug 22, 2023

I had 1 month rest period after chemo.

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pj03 | @pj03 | Aug 22, 2023
In reply to @roger72 "My husband has stage 1 esophagus cancer and are evaluating treatments. Can someone tell me about..." + (show)
@roger72

My husband has stage 1 esophagus cancer and are evaluating treatments. Can someone tell me about esophagectomy and how they faired after?

Jump to this post

My husband‘s surgeon at UCLA wanted to do his esophagectomy within 6 to 8 weeks after his chemo and radiation therapy. But in one of the preop testing they found his heart was not good. They did an angiogram just in case and found five blocked coronary arteries. They took him within two days for a quadruple bypass surgery. Now he will have to wait another 6 to 8 weeks. However, his surgeon says that he is still in the window of time that will be OK. So this gave us an extension we did not expect, but it still falls under the timeframe that the surgeon wanted to operate. As long as he recuperates quickly from this, he should be able to go in for surgery. Back to UCLA we go!
I hope this answers your question, and I pray everything goes well for you!
Patti

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sjw6358 | @sjw6358 | Aug 22, 2023

In my case it was 6 weeks

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