• Jingpu Wang, Cas de Jongh, Zhouqiao Wu, Eline M de Groot, Alexandre Challine, Sheraz R Markar, Hylke J F Brenkman, Jelle P Ruurda, Richard van Hillegersberg, and Dutch Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Audit (DUCA) group.
• Department of Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
• Ann. Surg. 2024 Nov 1; 280 (5): 808816808-816.

ObjectiveTo clarify the impact of the preoperative time intervals on short-term postoperative and pathologic outcomes in patients with esophageal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) followed by esophagectomy.BackgroundThe impact of preoperative intervals on patients with esophageal cancer who received multimodality treatment remains unknown.MethodsPatients (cT1-4aN0-3M0) treated with nCRT plus esophagectomy were included using the Dutch national DUCA database. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the effect of different time intervals upon short-term postoperative and pathologic outcomes: diagnosis-to-nCRT intervals (≤5, 5-8, and 8-12 weeks), nCRT-to-surgery intervals (5-11, 11-17, and >17 weeks) and total preoperative intervals (≤16, 16-25, and >25 weeks).ResultsBetween 2010 and 2021, a total of 5052 patients were included. Compared with diagnosis-to-nCRT interval ≤5 weeks, the interval of 8 to 12 weeks was associated with a higher risk of overall complications ( P =0.049). Compared with nCRT-to-surgery interval of 5 to 11 weeks, the longer intervals (11-17 and >17 weeks) were associated with a higher risk of overall complications ( P =0.016; P <0.001) and anastomotic leakage ( P =0.004; P =0.030), but the interval >17 weeks was associated with lower risk of ypN+ ( P =0.021). The longer total preoperative intervals were not associated with the risk of 30-day mortality and complications compared with the interval ≤16 weeks, but the longer total preoperative interval (>25 weeks) was associated with higher ypT stage ( P =0.010) and lower pathologic complete response rate ( P =0.013).ConclusionsIn patients with esophageal cancer undergoing nCRT and esophagectomy, prolonged preoperative time intervals may lead to higher morbidity and disease progression, and the causal relationship requires further confirmation.Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

32 keywords...

hide…