Progress of Research on Radiotherapy for Advanced Esophageal Cancer in the Era of Immunotherapy

Esophageal cancer is predominantly diagnosed at a locally advanced or distant metastasis stage in patients. Once the disease progresses to the advanced stage, its prognosis is poor, and the median overall survival time of patients receiving traditional chemotherapy is less than one year. Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors has provided new opportunities to patients with esophageal cancer and changed the previous treatment pattern. Chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy (PD-1 inhibitor) has become the standard first-line treatment for advanced esophageal cancer. However, chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy have been reported a median overall survival time of only 12.4-17.2 months for patients. Such a survival time remains insufficient to meet clinical needs. Combining systemic treatment with local treatment and seeking new comprehensive treatment models are important research directions for improving efficacy. This article reviews the research progress and prospects of radiotherapy in the treatment of advanced esophageal cancer.