Prognostic Factors for Post-Recurrence Survival in Patients with Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma after Curative Resection

Abstract

Background/Aims: We investigated factors affecting the post-recurrence prognosis in order to develop adequate therapeutic guidelines for determining the indication for treatment of recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: Ninety-three thoracic ESCC patients who developed postoperative recurrence after undergoing curative esophagectomy with 3-field lymphadenectomy at our institute and who received treatment for recurrence were enrolled in this study. Results: A univariate analysis showed that distant organ recurrence, the number of recurrent tumors, the longest diameter of the largest recurrent tumor, the sum of all of the longest diameters of the recurrent tumors, invasion into adjacent structures and the speed of growth of the representative recurrent tumors were significantly associated with the post-recurrence prognosis. A multivariate analysis showed that distant organ recurrence, the longest diameter of the largest recurrent tumor, invasion into adjacent structures and the speed of growth of the representative recurrent tumors were significantly associated with the prognosis. The patients whose recurrent tumor(s) did not meet all 4 of these factors showed a better prognosis. In contrast, the prognosis of the patients whose recurrent tumor(s) demonstrated all 4 factors was almost the same as that observed in the patients who did not receive any treatment for recurrence. Conclusions: The evaluation of these 4 factors may potentially be used to determine the indication for treatment for recurrence.