Introduction
The prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus is poor. The overall survival after esophagectomy is 10-20%. There had been controversies on the effect of metastatic abdominal lymph node on the survival of esophageal carcinoma. This study aimed to compare the survival in patients with or without abdominal lymph node metastasis after esophagectomy. Patients and method We conducted a case-control study with retrieval of data collected from a prospective database. From 1998 to 2003, we identified 17 patients that have squamous cell carcinoma of mid or lower esophagus and confirmed to have abdominal lymph node metastasis on pathology. We matched in a 1 case: 2 controls ratio with 34 patients that had a similar age, gender and stage of the tumour. The two groups were compared in terms of the 3 year survival and recurrence of the disease. Results When we compared the operative outcomes, we found that there is no difference between the two groups in terms of the duration of operation, the mean volume of blood loss, and the type of esophagectomy performed. The mean size of the tumour and the differentiation of the tumour between the two groups were also similar. When we compared the 3 year survival between the two groups, we found that the 3 year survival was similar between those with or without abdominal lymph node metastasis (47.1% vs 52.9%; Log rank test p = 0.61)(Figure 1). The rate of recurrence was also similar between the two groups (58.8% vs 58.8%; p = 0.1) Conclusion Metastastic abdominal lymph node does not affect the survival of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus treated by 2 field esophagectomy.
Figure 1 – Comparison of the 3 year survival between those with and without abdominal lymph node metastasis after two field esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus
500 Cummings Center
+1 978-927-8330
+1 978-524-0498
