Worldwide esophageal cancer collaboration

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Surgical Oncology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Esophageal cancer is rare, making large-scale studies challenging.
• International collaboration is crucial for robust data collection and analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a worldwide esophageal cancer database (WECC) using multi-institutional data.
• To analyze patient and tumor characteristics and survival outcomes for esophagectomy patients.
• To identify factors influencing survival and establish a basis for data-driven staging.

Main Methods:

• Assembled a de-identified database of 7884 esophageal cancer patients from 13 institutions worldwide.
• Collected data on patient demographics, tumor characteristics (histology, stage, grade), and treatment (esophagectomy).
• Analyzed overall survival rates at 1, 5, and 10 years post-esophagectomy.

Main Results:

• Overall survival rates were 78% (1 year), 42% (5 years), and 31% (10 years).
• Survival progressively decreased and was stratified by all analyzed variables (age, sex, tumor size, location, histology, grade, pT, pN, lymph node status, resection margin) except geographic region.
• The database overcomes rarity issues and provides a foundation for improved esophageal cancer staging.

Conclusions:

• A large, multi-institutional database for esophageal cancer has been successfully assembled.
• Survival after esophagectomy is significantly influenced by multiple patient and tumor factors, independent of region.
• This data-driven approach is essential for advancing esophageal cancer staging and treatment strategies.