Possible indication for surgical treatment of squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus that involve the stomach.

BACKGROUND

The caudal spread of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) frequently involves the stomach. An extended surgical treatment may provide a tumor-free margin; however, its clinical benefit has not been elucidated.

METHODS

Sixty-three of 582 patients with ESCC (11%) had massive gastric involvement and underwent esophagectomy with combined resection of the stomach and other organs. The mode of gastric involvement was classified as direct invasion from primary tumor (PT invasion) or invasion from metastatic lymph nodes (LN invasion).

RESULTS

In addition to the removal of either the proximal (83%) or the whole (17%) stomach, 46 patients (73%) underwent the combined resection of adjacent organs, including the diaphragm, pancreas, liver, lung, and pericardium. This surgical treatment resulted in a high rate (83%) of curative resection and a low rate (8%) of operative mortality. Postoperative survival rates were 53%, 33%, and 25% at 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively. The first tumor recurrence was frequently in the abdominal paraaortic lymph nodes (41%) and the liver (28%), followed by the mediastinal lymph nodes, local recurrence, the lung, and other organs. The mode of gastric involvement strongly affected clinical outcome, with a 5-year survival rate of 36% for those with PT invasion but of only 7% with LN invasion (P <.0086). No significant difference was seen in the number and location of metastatic lymph nodes between the 2 groups; however, the size of the largest metastatic lymph node was significantly smaller with PT invasion than with LN invasion (12 mm vs 37 mm in diameter; P <.0001).

CONCLUSION

Surgical treatment of ESCC involving the stomach was considered safe and successful. A favorable prognosis can be expected for gastric invasion from the primary tumor but not from metastatic lymph nodes.