Definitive Chemoradiotherapy for Cervical Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Single-institution Retrospective Study

The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical outcomes of radiotherapy-based treatment in patients with previously untreated cervical esophageal squamous cell carcinoma at a single institution.

We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients who received curative-intent radiotherapy for cervical esophageal cancer between July 2012 and October 2025. Eligible patients had histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma and no distant metastasis, except for supraclavicular lymph nodes included within the radiation field. All patients received concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy. Overall (OS) and progression-free (PFS) survival were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

A total of 33 patients were included. The median age was 64 years (range=45-83 years), and most patients had advanced disease (T4b: 51.5%). The median follow-up was 20.3 months. The median OS and PFS were 58.2 and 12.1 months, respectively. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS rates were 86.2%, 60.1%, and 55.8%, respectively, while the corresponding PFS rates were 51.3%, 37.3%, and 37.3%. Patients with stage I-II disease had significantly better OS than those with stage III-IVA/B disease (2-year OS: 100% vs. 51.2%, p=0.0383), although the difference in PFS did not reach statistical significance. Disease progression occurred in 21 patients (63.6%); among them, 15 (71.4%) developed locoregional-only recurrence.

Radiotherapy-based treatment for cervical esophageal squamous cell carcinoma achieved favorable OS despite a high proportion of patients with advanced-stage disease. However, disease progression remained frequent, particularly locoregional recurrence, underscoring the need for optimized multimodal treatment strategies.