Waiting to Operate

Abstract

Objective: To assess postoperative morbidity, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) in patients treated with salvage esophagectomy (SE). Background Data: A shift toward a “surgery as needed” approach for esophageal cancer has emerged, potentially resulting in delayed esophagectomy. Methods: We identified patients with clinical stage I-III esophageal adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma who underwent chemoradiation followed by esophagectomy from 2001 to 2019. SE was defined as esophagectomy performed >90 days after chemoradiation (“for time”) and esophagectomy performed for recurrence after curative-intent chemoradiation (“for recurrence”). The odds of postoperative serious complications were assessed by multivariable logistic regression. The relationship between SE and OS and DFS were quantified using Cox regression models. Results: Of 1137 patients identified, 173 (15%) underwent SE. Of those, 61 (35%) underwent SE for recurrence, and 112 (65%) underwent SE for time. The odds of experiencing any serious complication [odds ratio, 2.10 (95% CI, 1.37–3.20); P=0.001] or serious pulmonary complication [odds ratio, 2.11 (95% CI, 1.31–3.42); P=0.002] were 2-fold higher for SE patients; SE patients had a 1.5-fold higher hazard of death [hazard ratio, 1.56 (95% CI, 1.25–1.94); P<0.0001] and postoperative recurrence [hazard ratio, 1.43 (95% CI, 1.16–1.77); P=0.001]. Five-year OS for nonsalvage esophagectomy was 45% [(95% CI, 41.6%-48.6%) versus 26.5% (95% CI, 20.2%–34.8%) for SE (log-rank P<0.001)]. Five-year OS for SE for time was 27.1% [(95% CI, 19.5%–37.5%) versus 25.2% (95% CI, 15.3%–41.5%) for SE for recurrence (P=0.611)]. Conclusions: SE is associated with a higher risk of serious postoperative complications and shorter DFS and OS.

Salvage Esophagectomy: Why it Makes Sense to Selectively Resect Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…32 Studying this population retrospectively without bias is challenging due to difficulties in distinguishing salvage from delayed resections and differentiating between early recurrence and persistent disease. Salvage esophagectomy outcomes were reportedly comparable to trimodality therapy patients from a European cohort, 33 however, more contemporary data from the Memorial Sloan Kettering group 34 showed salvage to have higher odds of postoperative complication and shorter overall and disease-free survival. Both of these studies combined esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and ESCC patients in their analyses.…”