Patients

The data of 60 patients (39 men, 21 women) diagnosed with esophageal cancer by pathology or cytology and admitted to our hospital from January 2014 to December 2015 was reviewed in this retrospective analysis. The inclusion criteria were: (i) esophageal cancer patients clearly diagnosed by pathology or cytology; (ii) Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score > 70; (iii) no brain metastases; (iv) treated with IMRT; and (v) with complete information of the curative effects of radiotherapy. Twenty‐nine patients were aged < 60 years, while 31 were aged ≥ 60 years. Thirty‐seven patients had gross tumor volumes (GTV) < 64 cm³ and 23 patients had GTVs ≥ 64 m³. Thirty‐three patients received radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy, while 27 patients were treated with radiotherapy alone. During follow‐up, 22 patients survived > 2 years and 38 patients died within 2 years of treatment.