Question: My husband was diagnosed with Stage III Esophageal cancer in January 2014, he underwent pre-operative chemo, had an Esophagectomy in XXXXXXX 2014 and underwent post-operative chemo. He recovered very well from the operation and subsequent scans were cancer free. In approximately XXXXXXX 2016 he noticed a lump on his head, just above his right ear. It was checked by the GP who thought it was a sebaceous cyst.......but it kept growing.....a biopsy came up negative but the GP was unsure if he had got deep enough into the lump itself..........eventually the lump wads removed by a plastic surgeon in January 2017. It turned out to be located right on the outside of the skull and was removed with a narrow margin. It tested positive for Esophageal cancer and my husband is now having radiation treatment on the area. We were told that it is very rare for Esophageal cancer to metastasise to the scalp. CT scans taken in January 2017 showed no sign of cancer anywhere else in his body. Scans are now being done every three months with the next PET scan on 3rd May 2017. Given the lump on his head turned out to be a distant metastasis of the original esophageal cancer, how likely is it that other tumours will occur? If other tumours are likely when would we expect them to show up on scans? In your opinion what is the likely prognosis - of the cancer coming back - and of survival?

Thankyou very much for your answer. A couple of further questions......does anyone survive stage 4 esophageal cancer? Can you tell me the survival rate of this situation or is it always terminal?