Abstract
Background
For patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer, prospective randomized clinical trials have reported no added value of surgical resection to chemoradiation alone. Using a large regional cancer registry, our objective was to determine whether curative-intent esophageal resection provided a survival advantage in the multimodality management of esophageal cancer.
Materials and Methods
Using the Los Angeles County Cancer Surveillance Program (CSP), we identified all patients with local and regional (i.e., AJCC Stages I–III) esophageal cancer during the years 1988–2006. Clinical and pathologic data included patient demographics, tumor information, indication for surgery, lymph node status, and timing of therapy. Overall survival was assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method, and multivariate Cox-regression analysis was performed.
Results
From CSP, 2233 patients with esophageal cancer were identified. Median survival (MS) of the entire cohort was 13.1 months. We stratified this cohort into patients who received chemoradiation alone (n = 645) and patients who received trimodality therapy (n = 286) (i.e., chemoradiation and surgery). Patients had significantly improved survival with trimodality therapy compared with chemoradiation alone (MS 25.2 vs. 12.3 months, respectively; P < 0.001). The survival advantage with trimodality therapy was observed for patients with squamous cell carcinoma (MS 24.5 vs. 12.8 months, respectively; P < 0.001) and adenocarcinoma (MS 25.9 vs. 10.6 months, respectively; P < 0.001). By multivariate analysis, trimodality therapy was a significant prognostic factor for improved survival in patients with esophageal cancer (hazard ratio [HR] 0.66, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.56–0.77, P < 0.001).
Conclusions
Our data indicate that surgical resection remains an important component of the multimodality management of esophageal cancer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, Hao Y, Xu J, Murray T, et al. Cancer statistics, 2008. CA Cancer J Clin. 2008;58:71–96.
Cooper J, Guo M, Herskovic A, Macdonald JS, Martenson JA Jr, Al-Sarraf M, et al. Chemoradiotherapy of locally advanced esophageal cancer: long-term follow-up of a prospective randomized trial (RTOG 85-01). JAMA. 1999;281:1623–7.
Stahl M, Stuschke M, Lehmann N, Meyer HJ, Walz MK, Seeber S, et al. Chemoradiation with and without surgery in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:2310–7.
Bedenne L, Michel P, Bouche O, Milan C, Mariette C, Conroy T, et al. Chemoradiation followed by surgery compared with chemoradiation alone in squamous cancer of the esophagus: Ffcd 9102. J Clin Oncol. 2007;25:1160–8.
Nygaard K, Hagen S, Hansen HS, Hatlevoll R, Hultborn R, Jakobsen A, et al. Pre-operative radiotherapy prolongs survival in operable esophageal carcinoma: a randomized, multicenter study of pre-operative radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The second Scandinavian trial in esophageal cancer. World J Surg. 1992;16:1104–9.
Le Prise E, Etienne PL, Meunier B, Maddern G, Ben Hassel M, Gedouin D, et al. A randomized study of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery versus surgery for localized squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Cancer. 1994;73:1779–84.
Bosset JF, Gignoux M, Triboulet JP, Tiret E, Mantion G, Elias D, et al. Chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery compared with surgery alone in squamous-cell cancer of the esophagus. N Engl J Med. 1997;337:161–7.
Urba SG, Orringer MB, Turrisi A, Iannettoni M, Forastiere A, Strawderman M. Randomized trial of preoperative chemoradiation versus surgery alone in patients with locoregional esophageal carcinoma. J Clin Oncol. 2001;19:305–13.
Burmeister BH, Smithers BM, Gebski V, Fitzgerald L, Simes RJ, Devitt P, et al. Surgery alone versus chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery for resectable cancer of the oesophagus: a randomised controlled phase iii trial. Lancet Oncol. 2005;6:659–68.
Walsh TN, Noonan N, Hollywood D, Kelly A, Keeling N, Hennessy TP. A comparison of multimodal therapy and surgery for esophageal adenocarcinoma. N Engl J Med. 1996;335:462–7.
Tepper J, Krasna MJ, Niedzwiecki D, Hollis D, Reed CE, Goldberg R, et al. Phase III trial of trimodality therapy with cisplatin, fluorouracil, radiotherapy, and surgery compared with surgery alone for esophageal cancer: CALGB 9781. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:1086–92.
Urschel JD, Vasan H. A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that compared neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgery to surgery alone for resectable esophageal cancer. Am J Surg. 2003;185:538–43.
Fiorica F, Di Bona D, Schepis F, Licata A, Shahied L, Venturi A, et al. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy for oesophageal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Gut. 2004;53:925–30.
Gebski V, Burmeister B, Smithers BM, Foo K, Zalcberg J, Simes J, et al. Survival benefits from neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy in oesophageal carcinoma: a meta-analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2007;8:226–34.
Kim J, Mailey B, Senthil M, Artinyan A, Sun CL, Bhatia S. Disparities in gastric cancer outcomes among Asian ethnicities in the USA. Ann Surg Oncol. 2009;16:2433–41.
Schneider BJ, Urba SG. Preoperative chemoradiation for the treatment of locoregional esophageal cancer: the standard of care? Semin Radiat Oncol. 2007;17:45–52.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McKenzie, S., Mailey, B., Artinyan, A. et al. Improved Outcomes in the Management of Esophageal Cancer with the Addition of Surgical Resection to Chemoradiation Therapy. Ann Surg Oncol 18, 551–558 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-010-1314-7
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-010-1314-7