Preoperative chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer enhances the postoperative systemic inflammatory response.

BACKGROUND: Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been established to improve the long-term survival in patients with esophageal carcinoma. However, little is known about whether preoperative CRT may affect the postoperative systemic response.

METHODS: We investigated the postoperative clinical course in terms of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) in patients with preoperative CRT (CRT group) and surgery alone (SA group).

RESULTS: Both the postoperative heart and respiratory rate in the CRT group were significantly higher than in the SA group. The duration and incidence of SIRS, as well as the number of positive criteria for SIRS, were significantly greater than those in the SA group. There was no difference in the postoperative morbidity and mortality between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative CRT was found to significantly enhance the postoperative SIRS, thus suggesting its potentially higher risk of complications.