Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Node-positive Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Improves Survival

The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with positive lymph nodes after esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Patients who underwent esophagectomy for esophageal cancer in the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Henan Cancer Hospital) in Zhengzhou, China from 2013 to 2017 were selected for this retrospective cohort study. Patients with positive lymph nodes were grouped into the surgery alone group or the adjuvant chemotherapy group. Propensity score matching (1:1) was used to minimize baseline differences.

Among the 5118 patients who underwent esophagectomy, 792 patients were enrolled in the study. After matching, 253 (of 476) patients (adjuvant chemotherapy group) and 253 (of 316) patients (surgery alone group) were included. The median overall survival was significantly prolonged in the adjuvant chemotherapy group (54.0 months; 95% CI, 41.1-66.9 months) compared with the surgery alone group (28.0 months; 95% CI, 22.4-33.6 months) (P < .001). A significant difference was also observed in median disease-free survival between the 2 groups (adjuvant chemotherapy group, 33.0 months [95% CI, 20.8-45.2 months] compared with the surgery alone group, 22.0 months [95% CI, 17.0-27.0 months]; P = .007). In a multivariable analysis, receiving adjuvant chemotherapy (P < .001) was significantly associated with a reduced risk of death, and dissection of more than 6 lymph node stations (P = .05) was marginally associated with a reduced risk of death.

Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy improves the overall survival and disease-free survival of patients with resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with positive lymph nodes.