Induction therapy for locally advanced distal esophageal adenocarcinoma: Is radiation Always necessary?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes between induction chemotherapy alone (ICA) and induction chemoradiation (ICR) in patients with locally advanced distal esophageal adenocarcinoma.METHODS: Patients in the National Cancer Database treated with ICA or ICR followed by esophagectomy between 2006 and 2012 for cT1-3N1M0 or T3N0M0 adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus were compared using logistic regression, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and Cox proportional hazards methods.RESULTS: The study group included 4763 patients, of whom 4323 patients (90.8%) received ICR and 440 patients (9.2%) received ICA. There were no differences in age, sex, race, Charlson Comorbidity Index, treatment facility type, clinical T or N status between the 2 groups. Tumor size =5cm (odds ratio, 1.46; P=.006) was the only factor that predicted ICR use. Higher rates of T downstaging (39.7% vs 33.4%; P=.012), N downstaging (32.0% vs 23.4%; P<.001), and complete pathologic response (13.1% vs 5.9%; P<.001) occurred in ICR patients. Positive margins were seen more often in ICA patients (9.6% vs 5.5%; P=.001), but there was no difference in 5-year survival (ICR 35.9% vs ICA 37.2%; P=.33), and ICR was not associated with survival in multivariable analysis (hazard ratio=1.04; P=.61).CONCLUSIONS: ICR for locally advanced distal esophageal adenocarcinoma is associated with a better local treatment effect, but not improved survival compared with ICA, which suggests that radiation can be used selectively in this clinical situation.

View details for PubMedID 29530567