Hello and thanks for posting

I'm afraid we cannot provide a medical opinion or say how anyone should be treated as we are not involved in your sister's clinical care. Only a specialist can do this. Patients cannot insist on having surgery if their specialist team doesn't feel that they would benefit from it. Surgery is seldom the recommended treatment if a cancer has spread.

The issue in trying to remove a metastatic cancer is that it has already spread somewhere else. So doctors wouldn't put someone through major surgery, with all the risks and recovery time involved, only for the cancer to be still in another part of their body.  And in this situation, there would be little to gain in terms of overall survival from having had the surgery.

The best thing for your sister to do is to discuss this further with her specialist team as they are familiar with all her medical details.

Some people like to ask for a second opinion with another oncology ( cancer) team as they want to feel that they have left no stone unturned. If this is something that your sister would like to do, she could ask her GP or current specialist to refer her.

We do have some information on advanced oesophageal cancer on our website.

Please get back to us if you need any more information or support.  You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Kind regards,

Celene