Abstract Diffusely infiltrative esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is so rare that very few studies have been reported. Therefore, it has not been clear whether the survival of patients with this disease is poor or not. In this study, we retrospectively investigated our long-term results of radical esophagectomy for patients with diffusely infiltrative esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in our institution. In addition, we tried to detect prognostic factors of this disease if possible. Data were retrospectively collected from medical records. Eligible patients underwent esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with diffuse infiltration from 2002 to 2018 in our institution. Diagnosis of this disease was done in the conference of esophageal surgical team based on the findings of endoscopy and upper gastrointestinal series. Overall survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method, and statistical significance was determined by the log-rank. P value of<0.05 was considered statistically significant. 32 patients were selected in this study. Median age was 66 years old, cStage I/II/III/IV was 0/10/14/8 patients respectively, preoperative treatment was undergone for 11 patients. 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 27.3% and 3-year OS rate was 37.5%. 5-year OS rate for each cStage II/III/IV was 48.0%, 14.3% 25.0%. Patients who underwent preoperative treatment seemed to have poor prognosis with statistically significant difference. Patients with clinical or pathlogical supraclavicular lymph node metastasis tended to have poor prognosis. In this study, about 20% patients could obtain long-term survival. Therefore, surgical intervention could be one of the treatments for the patient with this disease. And also, we may take into account the postoperative treatment for the patient with poor prognostic factor.
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