Adjuvant treatment patterns for pT3N0M0 esophageal cancer undergoing surgery

Abstract

Summary To assess adjuvant treatment patterns on survival in patients with pT3N0M0 esophageal cancer who underwent esophagectomy without neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Stage pT3N0M0 esophageal cancer patients were assessed between 2000 and 2020 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results databases. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to compare overall survival (OS) among various treatment patterns. We identified 445 patients: 252 (56.6%) received surgery alone, 85 (19.1%) received surgery+chemoradiotherapy, 80 (18.0%) underwent surgery+chemotherapy, and 28 (6.3%) received surgery+ radiotherapy. For squamous cell carcinoma, surgery+chemoradiotherapy ([hazard ratio] HR = 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.65–1.66; P = 0.873), surgery+chemotherapy (HR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.42–1.22; P = 0.221), and surgery+radiotherapy (HR = 1.33, 95% CI: 0.74–2.39; P = 0.341) had similar OS compared to surgery alone. For adenocarcinoma, surgery+chemoradiotherapy (HR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.36–0.74; P < 0.001) and surgery+chemotherapy (HR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.42–0.87; P = 0.006) had better OS compared to surgery alone. However, surgery+radiotherapy had a comparable OS (HR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.44–1.49; P = 0.495).Adjuvant treatments did not improve survival in stage pT3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients. In contrast, adjuvant chemoradiotherapy and chemotherapy were recommended for esophageal adenocarcinoma patients.