Treatment outcomes according to the macroscopic tumor type in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated by chemoradiotherapy.

PURPOSE: To identify predictive factors for local control of locally advanced esophageal cancer by chemoradiotherapy, the relationship between clinical features, including macroscopic tumor type, and treatment outcome was analyzed in 83 patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Macroscopic tumor type was defined by endoscopy as follows: type 1: protruding type; type 2: ulcerative and localized type; type 3: ulcerative and infiltrative type; type 4: diffusely infiltrative type; and type 5: unclassifiable type. We analyzed the overall survival, cause-specific survival, local progression-free rate, and predictive factors for locally advanced esophageal cancer after chemoradiotherapy.

RESULTS: The median follow-up period at the time of evaluation was 59 months among survivors. The 5-year overall survival, cause-specific survival, and local progression-free rates for type 1 and other types were 37.0% and 23.3% (P = 0.4255), 71.8% and 30.3% (P = 0.0325), and 100% and 63.3% (P = 0.0246), respectively. Macroscopic tumor type (type 1) was the most significant predictive factor of cause-specific survival and local progression-free rates.

CONCLUSIONS: Macroscopic tumor type 1 was the significant favorable predictive factor for local control. The study results suggested that the macroscopic tumor type was useful in predicting tumor responses.