Treatment of early stage (T1) esophageal adenocarcinoma: Personalizing the best therapy choice

Table 1 Treatment of early stage esophageal adenocarcinoma treatment options

Treatment option	Potential benefits	Potential disadvantages
Endoscopic resection with or without radiofrequency ablation	Organ preserving; very low mortality; low morbidity; small, transient effect on quality of life	Does not address potential lymph node metastases; higher risk of recurrence and lower rate of complete response (particularly in T1b patients)
Esophagectomy	High curative rate; higher disease related survival rate; lower recurrence rates; addresses lymph node metastases	High rates of early and long-term morbidity; considerable rates of surgical mortality; large decrement in quality of life; high post-operative pain; complicated surgical procedure with high operative times and financial costs