Introduction: The objective of this study is to explore the prognostic implications of lymphadenectomy in esophageal cancer patients after neo-adjuvant therapy.
Methods: Retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database identified esophageal cancer patients with locoregional disease who received neo-adjuvant therapy and surgery. Patients were grouped based on the number of nodes resected, pathological lymph node status, and percentage of positive nodes. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to analyze overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Log-rank test was used to compare survival between groups.
Results: Eighty-four patients formed the study group. Patients with ≥ 18 nodes resected had a significantly longer median OS than those with <18 nodes resected (68.6 vs. 29.6 months; p = 0.014). Lymph node-negative patients had significantly longer median OS (51.4 vs. 27.4 months; p = 0.025) and DFS (45.3 vs. 12.9 months; p = 0.03) when compared to lymph node-positive patients. Patients with a percentage of positive nodes <0.25 had a significantly longer median OS (31.1 vs. 17.8 months; p = 0.015) and DFS (21.7 vs. 8.9 months; p = 0.021) than patients with ≥ 0.25% positive.
Conclusion: Extent of lymphadenectomy, percentage of positive nodes, and pathological lymph node status are significant prognostic markers in patients who undergo esophagectomy after neo-adjuvant therapy.