Long-survival of a patient with esophageal cancer benefited from comprehensive treatment and MDT: a case report.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are emerging as important drugs for patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer (EC). Yet, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) may be a major obstacle for these population. Multidisciplinary team (MDT) is an efficient way to deal with such conditions. The aim of this study is to report a case of a stage III esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patient who achieved long-term survival through comprehensive treatment and MDT management, despite multiple irAEs.

Case description: A 67-year-old man was diagnosed with stage III ESCC (cT4N1M0) in January 2021. After 2 cycles of initial immuno-chemotherapy with good efficiency, he suffered from grade 3 immune-related hepatitis (IRH) and recovered after steroid therapy. Then radical radiotherapy began as planned. However, he got pneumonia and common antibiotics and steroid showed no effect. Finally, NGS-based pathogen detection identified cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in his sputum. Ganciclovir was prescribed to him and his condition turned better soon. During a five-month period of anti-infectious therapy and follow-up, there was no anti-tumor treatment. However, the patient's esophageal lesion was evaluated as having a partial response (PR) on computed tomography (CT) scan and cancer cells transformed to high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia through gastroscopy. He underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and began a five-month follow-up period. When dysplasia recurred locally, the MDT members carefully restarted ICIs since he had fully recovered from previous irAEs and we believed he benefited from long-term responses to ICIs. Despite experiencing a third irAE, that is, adrenocortical insufficiency with mild symptoms, the patient still greatly benefited from ICIs. After being diagnosed as stage III EC for about 35 months, the patient's disease was still evaluated as clinical no evidence of disease (NED).

Conclusions: EC patients with irAEs who are well managed benefited from ICIs. MDT is crucial in the management of comprehensive treatment for EC.