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94 1 UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER
A
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Figure 7 Survival stratified by ypT, ypN, and ypM categories for ESCC.
2
ypM1
468 10
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Figure 8 Postneoadjuvant pathologic stage groups (ypTNM): adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
noncurative ER. While additional esophagectomy is recom­mended when postoperative histopathological factors indicate a high risk of nodal involvement and/or incomplete resection, accurate patient selection for additional surgery is needed since the majority of additional surgical resections for ESCC were tumor-free compared to adenocarcinoma (Liu 2021).
Another adjuvant therapy for high risk tumors after ER is chemoradiotherapy. The JCOG0508 evaluated the efficacy of CRT after noncurative ER. Three-year progression free survival was 73–88%. Minashi etal. reported that ESD combined with selective adjuvant CRT for cT1bN0M0 ESCC could achieve oncologic results non-inferior to esophagectomy (Minashi
2019). In conclusion, ER is a valuable treatment for superficial ESCC, under the precondition that early stage EC can be accu­rately diagnosed (Kato 2021).
Ablation
Unlike adenocarcinoma, where several indications for ablation of Barrett’s epithelium exist, the role of ablative therapies for ESCC has still to be determined. Endoscopic radiofrequency ablation (RFA) does not allow histological examination and the risk of lymph node metastasis is thus undetermined. RFA is to be combined with other modalities but its’ role in the treatment armamentarium for ESCC is still unknown (Noordzij 2019).
Esophagectomy
Radical therapy offers the best chance of control and cure for ESCC and surgical resection still remains the cornerstone of curative treatment.
i Preoperative Selection
Eligibility of a patient for surgical resection strongly depends on the extent of the disease, as well as on the general condition of the patient. Preoperative selection should be carried out carefully. A multidisciplinary team is then necessary for choosing the appropriate treatment for each patient individ­ually, not only on the basis of the TNM-classification system tumor stage, but also depending on tumor location, histo­logical subtype, comorbidities, and age. Patients with T1-2 ESCC without nodal disease are recommended to undergo immediate surgery in Asian practices, but they could also be candidates for preoperative treatment (Ajani 2019). Patients with T3 or N-positive disease are candidates for preoperative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy followed by elective sur­gery, while patients with T4a or N3 disease are candidates for definitive chemoradiotherapy followed by salvage surgery. In contrast to adenocarcinoma, ESCC are more proximally located tumors and proximal tumors are usually poor can­didates for surgery because of limitations in surgical tech­niques (e.g., confined working space and poor overview). Furthermore, due to its anatomical proximity to the hypo­pharynx, surgery includes a combined pharyngo-laryngo­esophagectomy in some cases, resulting in permanent tracheostomy and affecting the quality of life of these patients enormously. These patients frequently depend on definitive chemoradiotherapy, with encouraging three-year outcomes and acceptable toxicity (Borggreve 2018).
As for comorbidities, a large population-based study showed that 65% of the patients have an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score of 3. Anastomotic leakage is known to be associated with pre-existent cardiovascular
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disease such as arterial calcifications, making those patients at risk of developing anastomotic leakage due to esophageal con­duit necrosis. Preoperative pulmonary function is also related to the incidence of pulmonary complications, but could be reduced by dedicated preoperative physical therapy to increase cardiorespiratory function (Lagarde 2008). Age has histori­cally been a selection criterion for treatment and management in cancer patients, but old age should not be the only reason to exclude patients from receiving survival improving treatments such as surgical resection. The association of age with severity of complications after esophagectomy is demonstrated by an adjusted odds ratio of 1.02 per year increase in age, but no specific limitation of age has been demonstrated as a contrain­dication for surgery (Nienhueser 2015).
ii Surgical Techniques
Principles of Resection: Tumor Resection
Esophageal tumors tend to spread longitudinally within the submucosa of the esophageal wall. A radical resection without microscopically positive margins (R0 resection) is of great concern for surgeons since it defeats the primary objective of surgery. The definition of a positive radial margin depends on the pathologic reporting system used. The Royal College of Pathologists defines an R1 (microscopically positive) margin as cancer within 1 mm of the margin; the College of American Pathologists defines R1 as microscopic involvement of the margin. Ten percent of esophagectomy patients had positive resection margins and survival is markedly diminished in patients with incompletely resected tumors (Rice 2017).
In Japan, a three-field LN dissection is recommended, but this is not yet part of the routine surgical practice, especially not in the West due to higher risk on serious postoperative complica­tions. As part of a three-field lymphadenectomy, dissection along the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) could induce RLN palsy and induce aspiration pneumonia, potentially resulting in postoperative deaths (Matsuda 2017).
The Japanese classification of LN is based on the spread of LN rather than the count, which can give additional information on the extent of lymphadenectomy but is more complex to define. (See Section 4: clinical staging) Furthermore, the Japanese classification defines the concepts of D1–D3 dissection, which indicates extent of lymphadenectomy. Using these definitions, a surgeon can plan for extent of dissection based on the loca­tion of primary lesions.
1 DX Extent of lymph node dissection cannot be assessed. 2
D0 No or incomplete dissection of Group-1 lymph nodes. D1 Complete dissection of Group-1 lymph nodes, but no or
3
incomplete dissection of Group-2 lymph nodes. 4 D2 Complete dissection of Group-1 and Group-2 lymph nodes, but no or incomplete dissection of Group-3 lymph nodes.
D3 Complete dissection of Group-1, Group-2 and Group-3
5
lymph nodes. Lymphadenectomy should be based on regional lymph node maps. However, a higher lymph node yield has been associated with improved survival in several international studies but it should be noted that these findings have to be interpreted with caution, and the debate on the benefit of extensive lymphadenectomy has not yet been settled. Lymphadenectomy sufficient to determine pN is dif­ferent from that necessary for optimal survival; at surgery, a balance of these goals is necessary (Esposito 2020; Visser 2019).
Principles of Resection: Lymphadenectomy
The lymphatics in the squamous esophagus are located in an extensive, highly interconnected submucosal plexus. They drain through the muscularis propria to a paraesophageal plexus and a group of lymph nodes (LN) situated on the outer wall, then to the periesophageal nodes close by, and finally to lateral esophageal nodes. Sequential drainage may not occur with connections direct from the periesophageal nodes to lat­eral LN. The Japanese Society published the original and detailed lymph node maps allowing classification and defining radical surgical excision (Akiyama 1994).
A one-field resection would only encompass the para- and periesophageal nodes, a standard two-field resection will include these nodes together with the thoracic duct, the left and right pulmonary hilar nodes, and the paratracheal and tracheal bifurcation nodes. A radical three-field dissection includes the nodes around the right and left recurrent laryn­geal nerve, the deep lateral and external cervical chain, and those around the brachiocephalic vein. Lymph node metas­tasis occurred in 33% of patients with upper thoracic ESCC and 28% in ESCC located in the middle third (Udagawa 2012).
Surgical Approaches
A transthoracic approach is generally considered for esophagec­tomy to be optimal in oncological terms, as it allows for two­field lymphadenectomy with upper mediastinal dissection. The alternative, transhiatal esophagectomy, was designed to reduce postoperative morbidity and mortality by avoiding thoracotomy and is therefore often reserved for patients with considerable comorbidity and high risk of complications following a potential thoracotomy (Barreto 2010). However, ESCC are mostly located in the upper and middle part of the esophagus, thus operation via the transthoracic route is mostly performed and associated with lower pneumonias, anastomotic leaks, wound infections, strictures, and an improvement in nodal harvest. Survival was also significantly improved in patients who underwent transtho­racic esophagectomy (Takahashi 2021).
Anastomotic Techniques
After esophagectomy for cancer removal, gastrointestinal continuity is most commonly restored by gastric tube recon­struction with an esophagogastric anastomosis, but colon- or
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jejunum-interposition can also be used as alternatives. Several anastomotic techniques are available to construct an esophago­gastrostomy. When the lowest part of the thoracic esophagus is resected, an intrathoracic esophagogastric anastomosis high in the chest is performed (Ivor Lewis procedure) (Lewis 1946). If a subtotal esophagectomy is performed, a cervical esophago­gastric anastomosis is created (McKeown procedure) (D’Amico
2014). Intrathoracic anastomoses are associated with lower anastomotic leak rates and shorter hospital stay. Reported factors that may explain include less tissue ischemia due to the shorter distance the blood supply must travel and less risk of tension on the anastomosis and further. Some surgeons still prefer a cervical anastomosis, however, because the sequelae of cervical anastomotic leakage are claimed to be less severe. The ICAN trial showed that intrathoracic anastomosis resulted in better outcome for patients treated with transthoracic min­imally invasive esophagectomy for mid to distal EC, but no upper EC were included in this trial (Van Workum 2021).
Minimally Invasive Surgery
Open esophagectomy (OE) is traditionally performed but asso­ciated with considerable morbidity due to its highly invasive approach. Minimally invasive alternatives using thoracoscopy and laparoscopy have been increasingly adopted for esophageal surgery to reduce the physiological stress response to trauma and postoperative pain to promote recovery. Minimally inva­sive esophagectomy (MIE) describes an esophagectomy procedure that avoids the invasiveness of thoracotomy and lap­arotomy by performing thoracoscopy and laparoscopy instead. MIE is associated with fewer postoperative pulmonary infec­tions, less blood loss, shorter hospitalization, lower pain scores, and better quality of life on short terms (Mariette 2019). As no differences were found in three-year overall and disease-free survival it suggests that MIE provides short-term advantages while maintaining oncological standards (Biere 2012).
As the worldwide implementation of MIE has reached an advanced stage, MIE is a complex procedure with a learning curve that only reaches a plateau after more than 100 cases. The thoracoscopic part of MIE is particularly difficult to master, thus hybrid procedures (either laparoscopy or thoracoscopy) have been introduced. For surgeons in low-volume centers who would face challenges in completing their thoracoscopic/lapa­roscopic learning phase owing to insufficient caseload, this could be a viable alternative (Mariette 2019).
1 Morbidity and Mortality Outcomes
Outcome reporting after esophageal cancer surgery is hetero­geneous. As mentioned earlier, different surgical/anastomotic techniques have differences in postoperative morbidity and mortality. The overall incidence of postoperative complica­tions varies widely between 40–65% and includes systemic complications as well as complications specific to the surgical
procedure (e.g. anastomotic leaks, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury). Pulmonary complications are the most common postoperative complications, occurring in 16–40% of patients, but anastomotic leak is the most dreaded, occurring in 5–30% of the patients. In Table 5, the outcomes of cornerstone trials in comparing new surgical techniques versus OE are summa­rized (Biere 2012; Mariette 2019; Van der Sluis 2019).
A standardized list of complications was only created in 2015, to provide a template for recording individual compli­cations associated with esophagectomy. These quality parameters were documentation on mortality, comorbidi­ties, completeness of data collection, blood transfusion, grading of complication severity, changes in level of care, discharge location, and readmission rates (Low 2015).
Summary
1 For intramucosal ESCC, endoscopic resection (ER) is the standard
treatment. Adjuvant therapy is indicated in tumors with unfavor­able pathological characteristics (lymphovascular invasion, poor differentiation grade) and for incomplete endoscopic resections.
2
Patients with cT1-2 ESCC without nodal involvement qualify for sur-
gery in Asian practice; in the Western world, neoadjuvant treatment followed by surgery is indicated for T2 or higher and/or N1 cancers.
3
A three-field lymph node dissection is often performed in Asia, but
is not outside Asia given the increased risk of postoperative compli­cations. A transthoracic esophagectomy with two-field nodal dissec­tion is standard treatment in the West.
An intrathoracic anastomosis results in better outcomes compared
4
to a cervical anastomosis for mid to distal esophageal cancer.
5 A standardized list of complications and its definitions was created in
2015. Before that, outcomes were heterogeneous and lacks meth­odological rigor.
Section 7 Curative Treatment Part II
Worldwide, there are different paradigms in the curative treatment of ESCC. In general, multimodality treatment offers the best chance for cure. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and Nation Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommends neoadjuvant chemoradio­therapy (nCRT) over neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) as curative therapy for esophageal cancer, as this results in better local tumor control through high radical resection rates and better survival (Lordick 2016) (Ajani 2019). In addition to nCRT, definitive chemoradiation (dCRT) is also a potentially curative treatment option according to The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Shah 2020). This is in line with the recommendation of the Nation Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) which also prefers neoadjuvant chemora­diotherapy for curable locally advanced esophageal tumors.
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Table 5 An overview of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies.
First author
Accural period
Stages enrolled Chemotherapy
Radio­therapy Surgery No. of patients Survival P-value
Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy vs. surgery alone
Cao (Cao 2009) 1991–
2000
II, III, IV Mitomycin (10 mg/m2)
Cisplatin (20 mg/m 5-FU (500 mg/m
2
2
) x 5
) x 5
40 Gy TTE 116 87 3y-OS:
× 2 cycles
2
)
Bosset (Bosset
1997)
Yang (Yang
2018)
1989–1995 I, II Cisplatin (80 mg/m
x 2 cycles
2007–2014 IIB, III Cisplatin (75 mg/m
Vinorelbin (25 mg/m
37 Gy TTE 143 139 MST: 18.6 moMST: 18.6 mo0.78
2
)
40 Gy TTE 185 227 MST: 100.1 moMST: 66.5 mo0.025
2 × 2
)
x 2 cycles
Hagen (Van
Hagen 2012)
2004–2008 I, II, III Carboplatin (AUC 2 mg/
ml)
Paclitaxel (50 mg/m
2
)
41.4 Gy TTE and THE
168 186 MST: 49.4 moMST: 24
x 5 cycles
2
Lee (Lee 2004) 1999–2002 II, III Cisplatin (60 mg/m
5-FU (1000 mg/m
)
45.6 Gy TTE 35 48 MST: 28.2 moMST: 27.3 mo0.69 study
2
)
x 2 cycles
Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy vs. neoadjuvant chemotherapy
Wang (Wang
2021)
2017–2018 I, II, III Cisplatin (25 mg/m
Paclitaxel (50 mg/m
40 Gy TTE and
2
)
114 108 1y-OS:
THE
2
)
x 2 cycles
Neoadjuvant doublet chemotherapy vs. triplet chemotherapy
2
Kato (Ken 2022) 2012–2018 IB, II, III Cisplatin (80 mg/m
5-FU (800 mg/m or Cisplatin (75 mg/m 5-FU (750 mg/m Docetaxel (70 mg/m
)
2
2
- - 199 202 3y-OS:
)
2
)
)
2
)
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy vs. adjuvant chemotherapy
Ando (Ando
2012)
2000–2006 II, III Cisplatin (80 mg/m2)
5-FU (800 mg/m
2
)
- TTE Pre-op
149
Post-op
157
Pre-op 5y-OS:
x 2 cycles
Adjuvant chemotherapy vs. surgery alone
Zhang (Zhang
1995–2012 II, III, IV Different regimens - THE 887 1160 Not stated Not stated 0.25
2014)
TTE: transthoracic esophagectomy; THE: transthoracic esophagectomy; MST: median survival time; OS: overall survival.
73.3%
87.1%
72.1%
55%
3y-OS:
53.4%
mo
1y-OS:
82.6%
62.6% 0.006
Post-op 5y-OS:
43%
< 0.005
0.003
stopped
0.30
0.004
Whereas the preoperative treatment in the West preferably consists of a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the Asian guideline edited by the Japan Esophageal Society pre­fers chemotherapy alone followed by radical resection, based on concerns about higher postoperative complication rates (Kitagawa 2019).
Neoadjuvant Therapy
i Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy
The neoadjuvant combination of chemotherapy and radio­therapy aims to achieve improved local and systemic disease control, while exploiting the potent radiosensitizing properties
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of several chemotherapeutic agents (Wilson 2006). Numerous studies comparing nCRT followed by surgery with surgery alone in patients with ESCC have been reported.
A Chinese study investigated the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (mitomycin, cisplatin and 5-FU), neoadju­vant radiotherapy (40 Gy), nCRT (using the same cyto­statics with concurrent 40 Gy irradiation) or surgery alone on survival in patients with locally advanced ESCC (Cao 2009). This study showed a significantly higher three-year survival both in patients treated with radio­therapy (69%) and in those treated with chemoradiother­apy (74%) before surgery, compared to chemotherapy (57%) and surgery alone (53%). However, one-year and five-year survival rates did not differ between these four groups. The suboptimal power of the study complicates correct interpretation and implementation of these data.
Notwithstanding these inconclusive study results, there have been many studies which investigated survival in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery compared to surgery alone. In 1997, a French study group conducted a multicenter, randomized trial comparing nCRT (cisplatin with concurrent 37 Gy irradiation) plus surgery with surgery alone in patients with stage I-II ESCC (Bosset 1997). This study showed a prolonged disease-free survival (DFS) and longer interval free of local disease (RR =
0.6, 95% CI 0.4–0.9, p = 0.003), but overall survival (OS) was not improved. Postoperative mortality was higher in the nCRT group compared to surgery alone (12% vs. 3.6%), mostly due to respiratory insufficiency and mediastinal infec­tion or sepsis. Another study group performed a randomized trial comparing a different nCRT regimen (vinorelbine and cisplatin with concurrent 40 Gy irradiation) plus surgery with surgery alone (Yang 2018). The primary endpoint OS was sig­nificantly improved in patients treated with nCRT and surgery over surgery alone (median 100.1 vs. 66.5 months). Also DFS was longer in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemora­diotherapy (median 100.1 vs. 41.7 months). Contrary to the French trial, postoperative mortality did not differ between both treatment arms. The CROSS study from a research group from the Netherlands randomly assigned patients with resect­able esophageal cancer to receive surgery alone or weekly administration of carboplatin (AUC 2mg/ml) and paclitaxel (50 mg/m2) for 5 weeks with concurrent 41.4 Gy radiotherapy (in 23 fractions, 5 days per week), followed by surgery (Van Hagen 2012). The updated results after reaching 10-year fol­low-up data showed better OS in ESCC patients treated with nCRT plus surgery (46%) compared to surgery alone (23%) (p = 0.061) (Eyck etal. 2021b). Despite the positive effect of chemoradiotherapy on synchronous locoregional plus distant relapse (13% vs. 22%), isolated distant relapse was comparable between both treatment groups (27% vs. 28%). Of 178 patients in the chemoradiotherapy plus surgery arm, 8 patients died related to treatment and of 188 patients in the surgery arm, 7 patients died related to treatment.
Contradictory to these results, a Korean study in patients with stage II-III ESCC showed an excessive locoregional failure rate in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradio­therapy (cisplatin, 5-FU with concurrent 45.6 Gy irradiation compared to surgery alone (22% vs. 12%, p = 0.31)) (Lee
2004). Therefore, the authors conclude that neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy provided no survival benefit for resect­able ESCC. Remarkably, the majority of patients in this study did not undergo surgery, resulting in an unexpectedly high drop-out rate for surgery of 31%. This may be an explanation for these unexpected findings which are opposite to other neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy trials where approximately 80% of patients underwent surgery after chemoradiation.
A multicenter randomized clinical trial performed bet­ween 2017 and 2018 in China compared safety and effi­cacy of nCRT with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) in patients with potentially curable ESCC (Wang 2021). The chemo­therapy, based on paclitaxel (50 mg/m2) and cisplatin (25 mg/m2), was administered to both groups, while 40 Gy of concurrent radiotherapy was added for the neoadju­vant chemoradiotherapy group. One-year overall survival was 87.1% in the neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy group and 82.6% in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group (p =0.30). Postoperative morbidity, mortality and complica­tions did not significantly differ between both groups.
In summary, several studies with all different chemo­therapy and radiotherapy regimens have shown the positive effect of nCRT plus surgery on survival in ESCC patients as compared to surgery alone. The various nCRT regimens have not been compared head-to-head, and the fact that the Dutch CROSS regimen is favored in large parts of the Western world is mostly explained by its low toxicity rates and the absence of a negative effect on postoperative mortality.
ii Chemotherapy with Concurrent Proton-based Radiation
Over the past decades, multiple studies focused on proton­based radiation in combination with chemotherapy for esoph­ageal cancer. Proton-based radiotherapy provides dosimetric sparing of vital structures and organs surrounding the tumor which could potentially result in less radiation-related toxic­ities and postoperative complications. A recent randomized phase-II trial compared total toxicity burden and PFS between proton beam therapy (PBT) and intensity-modulated radia­tion (IMRT) in patients with esophageal cancer (Lin 2020). Patients were randomly assigned to PBT or IMRT (50.4 Gy). Total toxicity burden (TTB) consisted of the cumulative adverse events severity experienced by patients. Patients receiving IMRT experienced an average TTB score that was
2.3 times higher than PBT (39.9 vs. 17.4). The mean postoper­ative complication score was 7.6 times higher for patients treated with IMRT compared to PBT (19.1 vs. 2.5). No statisti­cally differences were seen in PFS, OS or quality of life (based
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on EQ-5D). This study support treatment toxicity benefit of PBT compared to IMRT. However, further validation of these results is required within a phase-III trial to see whether OS after treatment with PBT is non-inferior to IMRT.
iii Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
In Japan, (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) is considered to be standard of care for esophageal cancer patients, in part explained by concerns about postoperative mortality follow­ing nCRT. Followed by a three-field lymphadenectomy, patients treated with nCT have non-inferior oncological out­comes compared to treatment strategies including irradia­tion. The JCOG1109 trial compared doublet and triplet chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy in patients with ESCC stage IB-III, including overall survival as primary end­point (Ken 2022). Patients were randomly assigned to neo­adjuvant doublet chemotherapy (cisplatin 80 mg/m 1, 5-FU 800 mg/m motherapy (docetaxel 70 mg/m
2
m
on day 1 and 5-FU 750 mg/m2 on day 1–5 Q3W/3 course) or chemoradiotherapy (cisplatin 75 mg/m 1000 mg/m
2
on day 1–5 Q3W/2 course), triplet che-
2
on day 1–4 Q4W/2 course with concurrent 41.4
2
on day 1, cisplatin 70 mg/
2
2
on day
on day 1, 5-FU
Gy radiation). The three-year overall survival was signifi­cantly increased in patients treated with triplet chemo­therapy compared to doublet chemotherapy (72.1% vs.
62.6%, HR 0.68; 95% CI 0.50–0.92, p = 0.006) with no significant difference in toxicity. As a result of this trial, triplet chemotherapy could be considered as potential neo­adjuvant regimen for patients with locally advanced ESCC.
While neoadjuvant chemoradiation treatment predomi­nates in Western countries, the place for nCT remains uncer­tain. Efforts have been made to establish whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy should be preferred over adjuvant chemo­therapy. Theoretically, because of the adverse effect of esoph­agectomy on patient’s condition, more patients may be able to complete a neoadjuvant treatment compared to an adju­vant one. Moreover, administering chemotherapy while the primary tumor is still in situ enables response evaluation and assessment of pathological tumor regression, which can be helpful in treatment decisions moving forward. The Japanese study group of Ando etal. initiated a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the optimal timing for perioperative chemo­therapy, that is, before or after surgery (Ando 2012). Patients with ESCC clinical stage II/III, excluding cT4, were randomized to undergo surgery followed by adjuvant che­motherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by sur­gical resection. Chemotherapy consisted of two courses of cisplatin (80 mg/m
2
) on day one and 5-FU (800 mg/m2 per continuous infusion) over days 1–5×2 courses with a three­week interval. Primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), measured from the date of randomization to the date of first evidence of relapse or death due to any cause. The primary endpoint did not reach statistical significance,
but the five-year OS in patients treated with nCT was superior to that with adjuvant chemotherapy (55% vs. 42%, HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.54–0.99, p = 0.04). No difference was described in postoperative morbidity between the two groups. There are several possible reasons to explain the better OS in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemo­therapy. First, neoadjuvant chemotherapy can lead to tumor down-staging as shown by the equivalent amount of patients with clinical stage II ESCC at baseline compared to higher proportion of pathological stage II ESCC or lower in this group. In addition, R0 resection was slightly more frequent in the group of patients treated with neoadjuvant chemo­therapy. Third, completion of the full chemotherapy regimen was much better in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group (85.4% vs. 75%, p = 0.04). Hence, optimal timing of treatment with chemotherapy seems to be before surgical resection. However, a letter to the authors rightly noted that in the adjuvant treatment arm, only node-positive patients were treated with chemotherapy, while in the neoadjuvant treatment arm both node-positive and node-negative patients were treated (Ajani and Swisher 2012). Because of this imbalance in treatment arms, drawing a conclusion about the timing of chemotherapy remains challenging.
Adjuvant Therapy
Very few meta-analyses or reviews have been published on the value of adjuvant CT for ESCC, a strategy which is more com­monly used in the East than in the West. Not only are Western­oriented guidelines more reluctant to make a recommendation about adjuvant chemotherapy in esophageal cancer (ESMO, NCCN, ASCO), the evidence in Asian guidelines are only show­ing recommendations based on weak evidence (Ajani 2019; Kitagawa 2019; Lordick 2016; Shah 2020).
An Asian study group performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies in 2014, including 2047 patients (Zhang 2014). All studies compared surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy with surgery alone in patients with resectable ESCC. The regimen of cisplatin plus 5-FU was pre­dominantly used with cisplatin dose ranging from 70 mg/m2 to 120 mg/m2, in varying but mostly three-weekly schedules. The studies were also heterogeneous in their predominant surgical technique, as both two-field and three-field lymphadenectomies were performed. There was no statistically significant benefit in three-year OS for adjuvant chemotherapy (RR = 0.89, 95% CI
0.72–1.09; p = 0.25); an effect was seen on 1-year DFS (RR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.51–0.89; p= 0.006) but not on three-year DFS (RR =
0.97, 95% CI 0.73–1.29; p = 0.84). This may be explained by the fact that the effect of chemotherapy can extinguish over time.
The benefit of adjuvant immunotherapy has been proven in the randomized controlled CheckMate 577 trial (Kelly 2021). Patients with resected (R0) stage II or III esophageal or gastro­esophageal junction cancer who had received nCRT and had
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residual pathological disease were given nivolumab (at a dose of 240 mg every 2 weeks for 16 weeks, followed by nivolumab at a dose of 480 mg every 4 weeks) or placebo. The median dis­ease-free survival was significantly longer in patients who received nivolumab (22.4 months versus 11.0 months; p<0.001). This treatment strategy is already available in many regions even before the long-term results has been published.
Denitive Chemoradiotherapy
Definitive chemoradiation (dCRT) has been the mainstay for the non-operative management of localized esophageal cancer after several RCTs revealed its superiority to radiation alone, and it represents a standard of care in both Europe and the US. Patients may be considered unfit for surgical resection due to overall frailty or cardiopulmonary comorbidities, since surgery is asso­ciated with substantial perioperative complications. Furthermore, dCRT constitutes the treatment of choice for tumors (usually SCC) of the cervical esophagus, where radical surgery requires concomitant removal of the larynx and is associated with a chronically elevated risk of aspiration and severe impact on quality of life (Allum 2011). dCRT is also used in the management of advanced locoregional disease, including potentially resect­able (T4a) and unresectable (T4b) primary disease (Jeene 2018).
According to the ESMO guideline, dCRT consisting of cisplatin/5-FU combined with radiation doses of 50.4 Gy in fractions of 1.8 Gy is regarded as standard, while alternatively
six cycles of FOLFOX can be given (Lordick 2016). The NCCN panel prefers the combination of paclitaxel and carboplatin for dCRT, as well as the combination of FOLFOX and 5-FU plus cisplatin, although FOLFOX alone is associated with less treat­ment-related adverse events (Ajani 2019). The ASCO and the Asian guidelines both do not favor any treatment regimen for dCRT (Kitagawa 2019; Shah 2020).
dCRT has not been directly compared to nCRT or chemo­therapy plus surgery in patients with resectable tumors. Therefore, in patients with a potentially resectable tumor but concerns about the feasibility of major surgery given a frail condition or significant comorbidities, the optimal choice of therapy should be weighed on an individual patient basis (Table 6).
The RTOG 85–01 trial randomly assigned 123 patients (88% with squamous histology) with T1-3N0-1M0 tumors to receive either dCRT or radiotherapy alone (Cooper 1999). CRT con­sisted of cisplatin at a dose of 75 mg/m2 on day one and infu­sional 5-FU at a dose of 1000 mg/m2/24h on days 1–4 repeated in weeks 1, 5, 8, 11 (four courses) with radiation therapy com­mencing on day one and consisting of a total dose of 50 Gy in 25 fractions (5 fractions per week, 2 Gy per fraction). The radiotherapy control arm consisted of a high total dose of 64 Gy, delivered in doses of 2 Gy per fraction. Randomization was suspended after inclusion of 90 patients, given the results of the interim analysis which showed statistically different survival rates in favor of the combined modality therapy arm. A statisti­cally significant five-year OS benefit was seen in favor of CRT
Table 6 An overview of definitive chemoradiotherapy.
Regimen 1 Regimen 2
First author
Definitive chemoradiotherapy vs. radiotherapy alone
Cooper
(Cooper
1999)
Definitive chemoradiotherapy
Minsky
(Minsky
2002)
Hulshof
(Hulshof
2021)
MST: median survival time; OS: overall survival; PFS: progression-free survival; CT: chemotherapy.
Accural period
1985–
1990
1995–
1999
2012–
2018
Stages enrolled Chemotherapy
I, II, III Cisplatin (75 mg/
I, II, III Cisplatin (75 mg/
I, II, III, IV Carboplatin (AUC
2
)
m
5-FU (1000 mg/
2
)
m
x 4 cycles
2
)
m
5-FU (1000 mg/
2
)
m
2 mg/ml)
Paclitaxel (50 mg/
2
)
m
x 6 cycles
Radio­therapy Chemotherapy
50 Gy - 64 Gy 36 58 5y-OS:
64.8 Gy Cisplatin (75 mg/
50.4 Gy Carboplatin (AUC
2
)
m
5-FU (1000 mg/
2
)
m
2 mg/ml)
Paclitaxel (50 mg/
2
)
m
x 6 cycles
Radio­therapie
50.4 Gy 109 109 MST: 13 moMST:
61.6 Gy 130 130 3y-PFS:
No. of patients
Survival P-value
5y-OS: 0%Not
26%
75%
18.1 mo
3y-PFS:
79%
stated
Not
stated
0.11
102 1 UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER
https://t.me/medicina_free
(26% vs. 0%). The authors concluded that a combination of CRT increases the survival compared with radiotherapy alone.
However, the dose of radiation and the choice of chemother­apeutic agents remain a matter of debate, and the guidelines are not unequivocal about this. Several randomized trials have attempted to determine the optimal CRT regime for patients undergoing dCRT. The INT 0123 trial included 236 patients with cT1-4N0-1M0 esophageal cancer who were treated with combined-modality therapy, consisting of four-monthly cycles of 5-FU (1000 mg/m2/24h) and cisplatin (75 mg/m2 bolus day
1) with concurrent 64.8 Gy radiotherapy versus the same che­motherapy regimen with a lower dose of concurrent 50.4 Gy radiotherapy (Minsky 2002). This study showed no significant difference in median survival (13.0 vs. 18.1 months), two-year survival (31% vs. 40%) or locoregional recurrence (56% vs. 52%) between normal-dose or high-dose therapies. Therefore, the authors concluded that 50.4 Gy radiotherapy should be consid­ered as standard radiation dose for patients treated with dCRT.
The ARTDECO study investigated the effect of radiation dose escalation on local tumor control in dCRT for patients with inoperable and/or unresectable esophageal carcinoma (Hulshof 2021). Patients were randomly assigned between standard dose of radiotherapy (50.4 Gy in 1.8 Gy fractions) or high dose radiotherapy (61.6 Gy in 2.2 Gy fractions) to the pri­mary tumor. The chemotherapy regimen consisted of carbopla­tin (AUC 2) and paclitaxel (50 mg/m2) in both treatment arms. The primary endpoint, three-year local PFS, did not statisti­cally differ between both treatment arms in ESCC (75% in the standard dose arm vs. 79% in the high dose treatment arm). The absence of a dose effect indicates that the current radiation dose of 50.4 Gy does not require modification.
Summary
1 Whereas preoperative treatment in the West preferably consists of
chemoradiotherapy, Eastern countries still prefer chemotherapy.
2 Adjuvant therapy is more commonly used in the East than in the
West, but little is known about the true benefit.
3 Definitive chemoradiotherapy is the mainstay for non-operative
management of ESCC, but guidelines are not unequivocal on the
dose of radiation and choice of chemotherapeutic agents.
Section 8 Palliative Treatment
Palliative Treatment
A Chemotherapy
While the benefit of systemic chemotherapy is limited com­pared to treatment of other malignancies of the digestive tract, chemotherapy can be a valid option for patients with a
good performance status and metastatic ESCC. The aim is to prolong survival, improve and maintain quality of life, and ameliorate disease-related symptoms. Most commonly, a platinum compound (oxaliplatin, carboplatin, or cisplatin) is combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), capecitabine or a tax­ane (Janmaat 2017). This section focuses on established reg­imens as well as current trends in the use of chemotherapy for patients with unresectable or metastatic ESCC (Table 7).
i First-line Therapy
Combination of Chemotherapeutic Agents
The most widely studied chemotherapeutic agent is cis­platin, which has been in use since the early 1980s and forms the basis of many of the combination regimens used in this disease. The effectivity of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has mostly been investigated as neoadjuvant treatment, but data are also available on their role in the palliative setting. Studies showed that the treatment combination of 5-FU with cisplatin improve response rates compared to cisplatin alone, but no survival benefit was seen. A randomized phase-II study in patients with locally advanced or metastatic ESCC treated with combined cisplatin (100mg/m day 1) and 5-FU (1000mg/m
2
day 1–5) or cisplatin
2
on
alone was performed in 1997 (Bleiberg 1997). Response to therapy was determined using radiological and endo­scopic diagnostic modalities, the latter of which is not a standard method to determine response to systemic therapy in advanced disease. Of 88 included patients, 35% responded to the combination therapy whereas 19% responded to cisplatin alone. The one-year and two-year survival in the combination therapy arm was numerically higher (34% and 18%) compared to patients treated with cisplatin alone (27% and 9%), respectively. Toxicity was more frequent and more treatment-related deaths were observed after combined therapy. Based on the toxicity of the regime, the authors conclude that combined therapy with cisplatin and 5-FU is not recommended. This is in line with the results of a randomized phase-II French study, com­paring 5-FU (1000mg/m dose of 100mg/m
2
2
day 1–5) and cisplatin (single
or 20 mg/m2/day spread over 3 hours for 5 days) with no chemotherapy as palliative therapy for ESCC (Levard 1998). This study included patients in the curative setting, who received the chemotherapy after oncologic primary tumor resection, as well as patients with unresectable or metastatic tumors. In the 36 patients who did not undergo surgical resection because of advanced or metastatic disease, median overall survival was not significantly longer in patients treated with chemotherapy compared to the control group (both 12 months). However, significantly more patients experienced hematological and renal adverse
Table 7 An overview of palliative therapeutic regimens.
https://t.me/medicina_free
5 ESOPHAGEAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA 103
Accural
First author
period Therapy Regimen 1 Regimen 2
Dual chemotherapy vs. single chemotherapy
Bleiberg
(Bleiberg
1985–
1989
First-line Cisplatin (100 mg/m
5-FU (1000 mg/m
1997)
Chemotherapy alone
Levard
(Levard
1987–
1992
First-line Cisplatin (100 mg/m
5-FU (1000 mg/m
1998)
Polee (Polee
2004)
Not stated First-line Cisplatin (60 mg/m
Paclitaxel (180 mg/m
PD-1 inhibitors
Sun (Sun
2021)
2017–
2019
First-line Cisplatin (80 mg/m
5-FU (800 mg/m Pembrolizumab (200 mg)
Rui-hua
(Rui-Hua
2021)
Shen (Shen
2021)
2018–
2020
First-line Cisplatin (75 mg/m
Paclitaxel (175 mg/m Camrelizumab 200 mg
Not stated First-line Cisplatin (75 mg/m
Paclitaxel (175 mg/m Sintilimab (200 mg)
Immunotherapeutic agents
Doki (Doki
2022)
2017–
2019
First-line Cisplatin (80 mg/m
5-FU (800 mg/m Nivolumab (240 mg)
First-line Nivolumab (240 mg)
Ipilimumab (1mg/kg)
EGFR inhibitors
Lorenzen
(Lorenzen
2009)
Moehler
(Moehler
2020)
2004–
2006
2012–
2015
First-line Cisplatin (100 mg/m
5-FU (1000 mg/m Cetuximab (400 mg/m
First-line Cisplatin (100 mg/m
5-FU (1000 mg/m Panitumumab (9mg/kg)
Second-line regimens
Dutton
(Dutton
2009–
2011
Second-lineGefitinib (500 mg) Placebo 224 225 MST: 3.73 mo MST:
2014)
Kato (Kato
2019)
Kojima
(Kojima
2016–
2017
2015–
2017
Second-lineNivolumab (240 mg) Paclitaxel (100 mg/m
Second-linePembrolizumab (200 mg) Paclitaxel (80–100 mg/m
2020)
No. of patients Survival P-value
2
Cisplatin (100 mg/m
)
2
)
2
No chemotherapy 72 84 MST: 20 mo MST: 20 moNot stated
)
2
)
2
- 51 - MST: 9 mo
)
2
)
2
)
2
)
Cisplatin (80 mg/m 5-FU (800 mg/m
2
) 44 44 2y-OS: 27% 2y-OS: 9%Not stated
- N/A
1y-OS: 43%
2
)
2
)
373 376 MST: 13.9 mo MST: 8.8 mo< 0.0001
Placebo
2
)
Cisplatin (75 mg/m
2
)
Paclitaxel (175 mg/m Placebo
2
)
Cisplatin (75 mg/m
2
)
Paclitaxel (175 mg/m Placebo
2
)
2
)
Cisplatin (80 mg/m 5-FU (800 mg/m
Cisplatin (80 mg/m 5-FU (800 mg/m
2
)
)
2
)
2
)
)
Cisplatin (100 mg/m 5-FU (1000 mg/m
Cisplatin (100 mg/m 5-FU (1000 mg/m
2
2
2
)
298 297 MST: 15.3 mo MST:
2
)
12.0
0.0010
mo
2
)
327 332 MST: 16.7 mo MST:
2
)
12.5
< 0.0001
mo
2
2
)
2
2
)
2
)
2
)
321 324 MST: 15.4 mo MST: 9.1 mo< 0.0001
)
325 324 MST: 13.7 mo MST: 9.1 mo0.0010
)
2
32 30 MST: 9.5 mo MST: 5.5 mo0.32
)
2
73 73 MST: 9.4 mo MST:
)
0.43
10.2 mo
0.29
3.67 mo
2
210 209 MST: 10.9 mo MST: 8.4 mo0.019
) or
2
Docetaxel (75 mg/m
or Docetaxel (75 mg/m or Irinotecan (180 mg/m
)
2
)
314 314 MST: 8.2 mo MST: 7.1 mo0.0095
2
)
2
)
(Continued)