Follow-up and recurrence after a curative esophagectomy for patients with esophageal cancer: the first indicators for recurrence and their prognostic values

Extended radical esophagectomy with three-field lymphadenectomy for patients with thoracic esophageal cancer has been shown to be effective. But even if this operation is performed, some patients still experience relapse of the disease. The purpose of this study was to clarify the pattern and timing of recurrence after extended radical esophagectomy. Recurrence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was examined in 171 of 174 patients who underwent extended radical esophagectomy with three-field lymphadenectomy. Recurrence patterns were classified as locoregional (at the site of the primary tumor, the anastomotic site, or the lymph nodes), hematogenous, and other (pleura or site of gastrostomy). Factors associated with recurrence were identified using univariate and multivariate statistical methods for survival analysis. The overall 5-year survival rate was 55.6%. Recurrence was recognized in 74 patients (43.3%). The median disease-free interval until recurrence was 11 months. Thirty patients (17.5%) developed a locoregional recurrence, and 24 (14.0%) developed a hematogenous recurrence. Five patients (2.9%) developed both recurrences simultaneously and were classified as hematogenous recurrences. Of 30 patients with cervical lymph node metastasis, recurrent disease was recognized in 19 patients (63.3%). In multivariate analysis of 160 patients, the depth of invasion and pM-lym (cervical or celiac lymph node metastasis) were significant factors for locoregional recurrence; the depth of invasion and number of lymph node metastases at operation were significant factors for hematogenous recurrence. Survival time for patients with hematogenous recurrence (median 16 months) was significantly shorter than that of patients with locoregional recurrence (median 25.5 months). Locoregional recurrence is associated mainly with the extent of the local tumor and lymph node metastasis; hematogenous recurrence is not only associated with tumor stage but also with the tumor's oncologic behavior.

To document the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival of patients undergoing esophagectomy for squamous carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus, and to examine the factors contributing to improvements in outcome noted in patients with advanced carcinoma. Japanese and some Western surgeons recently have reported that radical esophagectomy with extensive lymphadenectomy conferred a survival advantage to patients with esophageal carcinoma. The factors contributing to this improvement in results have not been well defined. From 1981 to 1995, 419 patients with carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus underwent esophagectomy at the Keio University Hospital. The clinicopathologic characteristics and survival of patients treated between 1981 and 1987 were compared with those of patients treated between 1988 and 1995. Multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model was carried out to evaluate the impact of 15 variables on survival of patients with p stage IIa to IV disease. Several variables related to prognosis were examined to identify differences between the two time periods. The 5-year survival rate for all patients was 40.0%. The 5-year survival rate was 17.7% for p stage IIa to IV patients treated during the earlier period and 37.6% for those treated during the latter period. The Cox regression model revealed seven variables to be important prognostic factors. Of these seven, three (severity of postoperative complications, degree of residual tumor, and number of dissected mediastinal nodes) were found to be significantly different between the earlier and latter periods. The survival of patients undergoing surgery for advanced carcinoma (p stage IIa to IV) of the thoracic esophagus has improved during the past 15 years. The authors' data suggest that this improvement is due mainly to advances in surgical technique and perioperative management.

Despite increasingly radical surgery for esophageal carcinoma, a large number of patients still experience recurrent disease soon after operation. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the pattern of recurrence after curative esophagectomy for cancer of the thoracic esophagus and to identify factors predictive of recurrent disease. A total of 439 consecutive patients discharged from the authors' institution following R0 resection between January 1982 and July 2002 were followed for evidence of recurrence over a mean interval of 37.3 (range, 1-207) months. Overall 1-, 3- and 5-years survival rates were 91%, 54%, and 41%, respectively. Some 230 patients (52.4%) developed proven recurrence, of whom 24 were alive and 206 were dead at the time of writing. The median time to recurrence was 12.0 (range, 6-96) months, with a median survival thereafter of 7.0 (range, 0-83) months. The pattern of recurrence was local in 12.1%, regional in 20.5% (cervical 3.6%, mediastinal 14.8%, and abdominal 2.1%), and distant in 19.8%, respectively. The overall pattern of dissemination was significantly different according to the histologic subtype (P = 0.021). One hundred five (45.7%) of all recurrences occurred within 12 months of surgery, with local, regional, and distant recurrence occurring at a median of 14.0 (range, 6-77), 13.5 (range, 6-73), and 11.0 (range, 6-96) months, respectively; A factor predictive of recurrent disease was histologic tumor depth invasion (P = 0.001). Depth of tumor invasion should be used to identify patients who will have recurrence within 12 months of operation, so that these patients may be either entered into trials of multimodality treatment or offered nonsurgical palliation. Copyright 2003 American Cancer Society.DOI 10.1002/cncr.11228