Prognostic factors for patients with esophageal cancer treated with radiation therapy in PCS: a preliminary study

We investigated the prognostic factors, with special reference to age, for esophageal cancer patients, who did not receive surgery but were treated with radiation in the context of a Patterns of Care Study (PCS) in Japan.

The fifth PCS database format employed in the United States was used to collect information on 455 esophageal cancer patients by external audit. The data of patients who had not received surgery (n=252) were further selected and divided into two age groups, patients 75 years old or older (n=90) and patients younger than 75 years (n=162). Cox's proportional hazards model was used for the statistical analysis, with crude survival as the endpoint. Variables tested were age; Karnofsky performance status (KPS); history of pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes; AJCC stage; external dose; treatment period; combination with chemotherapy; utilization of brachytherapy, and stratification of institutions.

Statistically significant prognostic factors for all patients in the non-surgery group were KPS p=.0001), stage (p=.0001), and utilization of brachytherapy (p=.0102). For younger patients, KPS (p=.0001), stage (p=.0007), external dose (p=.0001), and utilization of brachytherapy (p=.0034) were significant, and for the elderly, stage (p=.0001) and external dose (p=.0006).

Although this was a preliminary study, age was not a significant prognostic factor for esophageal cancer patients in the non-surgery group, and making the external dose more than 60 Gy appears to be effective for improving survival of elderly as well as younger patients.