Palliative Surgery May Extend Survival for Advanced Esophageal Cancer Patients

For patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) post-chemoradiotherapy (CRT), palliative esophagectomy (PE) with retrosternal reconstruction may offer better outcomes compared to an open-close (OC) procedure. A study involving 68 patients found that those undergoing PE had a shorter hospital stay (16.5 vs. 28.8 days, p = 0.052) and a higher 2-year overall survival rate (9.6% vs. 0%, p = 0.009). In multivariable analysis, pretreatment clinical stage II/III (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.31–0.87, p = 0.013) and PE with retrosternal reconstruction (HR 0.38, 95% CI 0.15–0.49, p = 0.010) were independently associated with improved survival. This indicates that PE might be a viable palliative approach for managing such patients. Access the full study here.