Abstract

Objective To investigate the efficiency and safety of hypofractionated radiotherapy (HFR) combined with chemotherapy using paclitaxel for the treatment of esophageal cancer (EC) patients with post-operative tracheoesophageal groove lymph node (TGLN) metastasis. Methods A total of fifty-three post-operative EC patients with TGLN metastasis were randomly divided into HFR group (n=25), receiving a radiation of 60 Gy/20 fractions, and conventional fractionated radiotherapy (CFR) group (n=28), receiving a radiation of 60 Gy/30 fractions combined with chemotherapy using paclitaxel with a dosage of 50 mg once per week through tossing a coin. the adverse events and the prognosis between two groups were compared. Results The incidence of radiation esophagitis and pneumonitis (grade 3-4) between the HFR group and CFR group showed no statistically significant difference (44.0%, 25.0%, P>0.05; 16.0%, 7.1%, P>0.05). No statistical difference was noticed in the efficiency between the HFR group and the CFR group (P>0.05). The efficiency in patients with lymph node metastasis at diameters ≤2 cm was significantly higher than that with lymph node metastasis at diameters >2 cm (P<0.05). The median overall survival (OS) of the HFR group showed a significant increase compared with that of the CRF group [24.2 months (95%CI 16.2-32.1 months) vs. 11.8 months (95%CI 9.2-14.4 months)] (χ2=5.063, P<0.05). Both univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that TGLN diameter (P<0.05) and fractioned types (P<0.05) were factors that affected the prognosis. Conclusions The combination of HFR and chemotherapy contributed to the improvement of prognosis in EC patients with TGLN metastasis and there was no obvious increase in the adverse events. Trial registration Chinese clinical trial registry, ChiCTR1800016848 Key words: Esophageal cancer; Tracheoesophageal groove lymph node metastasis; Hypofractioned radiotherapy; Conventional fractioned radiotherapy

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