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Background Inflammation status plays an important role in the natural history of malignancy. Consequently, hematological markers of systemic inflammation may predict prognosis in neoplasms. This study evaluated the value of cellular blood components changes during neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by esophagectomy for cancer in predicting prognosis. Methods A cohort of 149 patients was analyzed. Cellular components of blood were assessed before neoadjuvant therapy (A); before surgery (B); and 3 to 5 months after surgery (C); for the following outcomes: pathological response, overall survival (OS), and disease‐free survival (DFS). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were applied to evaluate the independent prognostic significance of blood count variables. Results Low hematocrit (Ht) (C) (HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.79‐0.92) and high neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (C) (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.07‐1.10) were related to poor OS. Low Hb (C) (HR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.58‐0.88), red cell distribution width (RDW) (C‐A) (HR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.02‐1.31), and NLR (C‐A) (1.06; 95% CI, 1.03‐1.09) were related to poor DFS. RDW (B‐A) (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.08‐1.22), RDW (C) (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04‐1.2), NLR (C) (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.08‐1.17) were related to systemic recurrence. Conclusion Variables of routine blood count are easily assessable and their changes throughout trimodal therapy for esophageal carcinoma provide important information for cancer patient's prognosis.

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Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate prognostic factors during neoadjuvant therapy that can predict pathologic complete response (pCR), overall survival (OS), or disease-free survival (DFS). Summary of background data:Variables that can predict tumor response to neoadjuvant therapy are required for esophageal cancer management.Methods: A retrospective cohort was performed with esophageal cancer patients submitted to neoadjuvant therapy. pCR, OS, and DFS were evaluated. Logistic regression was used to evaluate prognostic factors. This study covered 140 patients, 94 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), and 44 adenocarcinomas. SCC is more often associated with pCR (compared to adenocarcinoma, OR: 8.07, 95% CI: 2.91-22.38); it has higher probability of DFS (HR for death or recurrence was 0.6, 95% CI: 0.37-0.98); and a higher probability of OS (HR for death was 0.59, 95% CI: 0.35-1). Gender, age, grade of cellular differentiation, chemotherapy regimen, and neoplasm circumferential involvement before neoadjuvant therapy are variables that are unrelated to DFS. Relief of dysphagia, and weight gain were also unrelated to the outcomes. In the multivariate analysis, the weight loss during neoadjuvant therapy was related to higher risk for recurrence or death (HR 1.02, 95% CI: 1-