Salvage Therapy for Post-operative Local Recurrence or Metastasis in Stage pT1-3N0M0 of Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective To analysis the failure mode and the efficacy of salvage therapy for post-operative local recurrence or metastasis in stage pT1-3N0M0 thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Methods A retrospective analysis was performed in 265 patients with post-operative local recurrence or metastasis in stage pT1-3N0M0 thoracic esophageal squamous cell cancer who were admitted to the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from January 2007 to December 2010. SPSS19.0 software was used to analyze the failure mode, the value of salvage therapy and its influencing factors.

Results In all patients, the 1-, 3-and 5-year overall survival rates were 42.9%, 20.0% and 15.2%, respectively; the median time was 9.8 months(95%CI:7.9-11.7) after failure. Univariate analysis showed that age, degree of differentiation, type of failure, radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy after failure were associated with OS(χ²=5.090, 8.319, 11.566, 17.982, 6.878; P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that degree of differentiation, treatment after failure, chemoradiotherapy after failure were the independent factors for OS(P < 0.05).

Conclusion The degree of tumor differentiation and the treatment mode after failure are the independent factors for stage pT1-3N0M0 thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after radical resection. Salvage radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy can improve OS after recurrence.