Abstract
Esophagectomy is a standard of care for patients with "high-risk" early esophageal cancer (HRC) despite a growing evidence that endoscopic treatment may be a safe alternative. Our aims were 1. to prospectively evaluate the long-term results of endoscopic and surgical treatments in consecutive patients with HRC and 2. to determine the risk of lymph node (LN) metastases and micrometastases in patients with HRC.
Methods
HRC was defined as any cancer with submucosal (sm) invasion or mucosal cancer with at least one of the following: poor differentiation, invasion to blood or lymphatic vessels and high tumor cell dissociation (TCD3). All patients (n = 69) underwent endoscopic resection (ER or ESD) and after the histopathological diagnosis of HRC, patients without contraindications were referred to surgery (n = 30). The remaining patients (n = 39) continued in endoscopic treatment, if necessary. All resected LNs were stained for hematoxylin–eosin to evaluate metastases and immunohistochemistry was used for the detection of micrometastases or isolated tumor cells.
Results
Eighteen patients (26%) had T1a and 51 (74%) had T1b cancer; 51 had adenocarcinoma (AC) and 18 had squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The median follow-up was 32 months (3–120). No patient with mucosal invasion (15 AC, 3 SCC) experienced LN involvement. Among 17 patients with sm1 invasion, only 2 (12%, both AC)experienced generalization or LN involvement. The further rates of LN involvement were 0% (0/5) in sm2 AC, 50% (3/6) in sm2 SCC, 25% (4/16) in sm3 AC and 29% (2/7) in sm3 SCC. 60% (18/30) of surgically treated patients would have been completely cured by endoscopy (Table 1).
Conclusion
The risk of LN metastases/micrometastases was lower than expected. No patients with high-risk mucosal cancer or low-risk sm1 cancer experienced lymph node involvement. Endoscopic treatment provided long-term remission (or cure) in considerable number of patients and it may represent a valid alternative to surgery in patients with high-risk early esophageal cancer.
Su1124 – Long Term Results of Endoscopic Treatment Vs. Esophagectomy with Lymphadenectomy in Patients with High-Risk Early Esophageal Cancer Including Detailed Analysis of Lymph Node Micrometastases