• Pathologic Complete Response Rate [ Time Frame: approximately 1 month after completing all treatments, then every 3 months up to 2 years, every 6 months from 2-5 years of study entry and annually 6-10 years from study entry ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  A patient would have achieved a pathologic complete response if no histopathological evidence of residual tumor is found in the resected esophageal specimen and nodal tissue.
  
  

• Overall Survival Time [ Time Frame: Approximately 1 month after completing all treatments, then every 3 months up to 2 years, every 6 months from 2-5 years of study entry and annually 6-10 years from study entry ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Survival was measured from the date of randomization onto study to death from any cause.Patients who were still alive at the end of the study were censored at the last date of known alive. Median survival time was calculated in the 81 eligible and treated patients.
  
  
• Recurrence-free Survival Time [ Time Frame: Approximately 1 month after completing all treatments, then every 3 months up to 2 years, every 6 months from 2-5 years of study entry and annually 6-10 years from study entry ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Recurrence-free survival is measured from the date of complete response to recurrence of the cancer. Patients without recurrence were censored at the last date of known recurrence-free. Median recurrence-free survival time was calculated in the eligible and treated patients.
  
  

OBJECTIVES:

• Compare the pathologic complete response rate in patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or gastroesophageal junction treated with radiotherapy with pre- and post-operative cisplatin plus paclitaxel versus cisplatin plus irinotecan.
• Compare the survival outcome in patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the toxicity of these regimens in these patients.
• Compare the tolerability of these adjuvant chemotherapy regimens after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in these patients.
• Compare time to progression or recurrence in patients treated with these regimens.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to ECOG performance status (0 vs. 1) and stage of disease (T2-3, N0, M0 vs. T1-3, N0-1, M0 or M1A). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

• Arm A: Patients receive neoadjuvant radiotherapy once daily, 5 days a week, for 5 weeks beginning on day 1 concurrently with neoadjuvant chemotherapy comprising cisplatin IV (Intravenous) over 2-3 hours followed by irinotecan IV over 30-60 minutes once daily on days 1, 8, 22, and 29. Four to six weeks after completion of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, patients undergo surgical resection. A minimum of 4 weeks after resection, patients receive adjuvant chemotherapy comprising cisplatin and irinotecan as above on days 1 and 8. Treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy repeats every 3 weeks for 3 courses.
• Arm B: Patients receive neoadjuvant radiotherapy as in arm A concurrently with neoadjuvant chemotherapy comprising paclitaxel IV (Intravenous) over 1 hour followed by cisplatin IV over 2-3 hours once daily on days 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29. Patients then undergo surgical resection as in arm A. A minimum of 4 weeks after resection, patients receive adjuvant chemotherapy comprising paclitaxel IV over 3 hours followed by cisplatin as above on day 1. Treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy repeats every 3 weeks for 3 courses.

In both arms, treatment continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Patients are followed at 1 month, every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually for 5 years.

ACCRUAL: A total of 97 patients (50 on Arm A and 47 on Arm B) were accrued for this study.