Panitumumab, Combination Chemotherapy, & Radiation Therapy in Esophageal or Gastroesophageal Junction Cancer

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have resectable adenocarcinoma of the esophagus or GE-junction and are medically fit to undergo surgery; patients must have no evidence of distant metastasis based on imaging studies * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1 * Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of at least 2000 per mcL * Platelet count of at least 100,000 per mcL * Serum creatinine less than or equal to 2.0 mg/dL * Serum magnesium greater than or equal to 1.8 mg/dL * Total bilirubin less than or equal to 2.0 mg per dL * Measurable disease is not required for this study, since the primary endpoint is complete pathologic response * The patient must be aware of the neoplastic nature of his/her disease and willingly provide written, informed consent after being informed of the procedure to be followed, the experimental nature of the therapy, alternatives, potential benefits, side-effects, risks, and discomforts Exclusion Criteria: * Prior therapy: patients with prior history of mediastinal radiation exposure will be ineligible; patients may not have received prior chemotherapy, or antibody therapy for esophageal or GE-junction adenocarcinoma * History of allergy to platinum compounds or to antiemetics appropriate for administration in conjunction with protocol-directed chemotherapy * Patients with a prior history of marked intolerance to 5-fluoropyrimidines (5-FU, floxuridine, capecitabine, 5-fluorocytosine \[flucytosine\]), since such patients may have deficiency of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, which places them at risk for severe and life-threatening toxicity with 5-FU * Uncontrolled inter-current illness including, but not limited to ongoing or active infection requiring intravenous antibiotics, ongoing immunosuppressive therapy (except for replacement steroids), active human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, that might jeopardize the ability of the patient to receive the chemotherapy program outlined in this protocol with reasonable safety * Clinically significant cardiac disease (including symptomatic congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, unstable angina pectoris, or serious, uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia) within 1 year of study enrollment * Pregnant and nursing women, or women planning to become pregnant within 6 months after the end of treatment, are excluded from this study; a negative pregnancy test will be required of women of child-bearing age within 72 hours of study enrollment; subjects (male or female) who are not willing to use highly effective methods of contraception (per institutional standard) during treatment and for 6 months (male or female) after the end of treatment are excluded * History of interstitial lung disease e.g. pneumonitis or pulmonary fibrosis or evidence of interstitial lung disease on baseline chest computed tomography (CT) scan * Patients with prior malignancy will be excluded except for adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, adequately treated noninvasive carcinomas, or other cancers from which the patient has been disease-free for at least 5 years * Patients receiving an investigational agent within 30 days before enrollment