e14709 Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT) followed by surgery has become the standard treatment in patients with clinical stage II/III thoracic esophageal cancer. This study evaluated our experience with this treatment approach. Methods: We evaluated 39 patients that underwent an esophagectomy after neoadjuvant concurrent 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin CT, and investigated the clinical and pathological results of neoadjuvant CT. Results: The 3-year overall survival (OS) rate was 70%. Clinical CR, PR, SD and PD were observed in 0, 22, 14 and 3 patients, respectively, and response rate was 56.4%. The 3-year OS of clinical CR group was significantly better than that of clinical PD group. The OS of clinical CR group was not significantly different from that of clinical SD group. Down-staging was observed in 13 cases (33%), but OS was not significantly different between down-staging group and non-down-staging group. Pathological complete response was observed in 1 case (3%). According to lymph node metastasis, down-grading was observed in 11 cases (28%) (responder). The OS was significantly better in responders compared with those in non-responders (100% vs. 50%, p=0.024). Conclusions: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy can be a good option in treatment of clinical stage II/III thoracic esophageal cancer. Especially in this study, the patients with pathological lymph node response are expected to have better outcome in survival.
Esophageal motion characteristics in thoracic esophageal cancer: Impact of clinical stage T4 versus stages T1-T3
