Surgical and long-term outcomes of combined organ resection for esophageal cancer invading adjacent organs: Experience of 90 consecutive cases

Objective

To evaluate the feasibility of and long-term survival with combined organ resection for esophageal cancer (EC). The optimal treatment strategy for EC that is invading adjacent organs is not established.

Methods

Ninety patients with EC invading adjacent organs who underwent combined organ resection after induction treatments during the time period 2003-2023 in our institute were eligible for the study. Short- and long-term outcomes were assessed, and survival analysis was performed to identify prognostic parameters in this cohort.

Results

Most patients had primary tumors (78.9% vs 21.1% with recurrent disease). The resected organs were the trachea/bronchus in 75.6%, large vessels in 24.4%, and both in 5.6%. All but 1 patient underwent chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy as prior induction treatment, and had R0 resection. The overall complication rate (Clavien-Dindo grade II or greater) was 54.4%, and in-hospital mortality was 2.2% (30- and 90-day mortality: 0% and 2.2%, respectively). Of the deaths, 47 (87.0%) were attributed to EC and 7 (13.0%) to other causes. Median disease-free survival was 6.5 months, and overall survival (OS) was 18.9 months. The 2-year OS values were 47.2% with trachea/bronchus resection, 38.4% with large-vessel involvement, and 37.5% if both were involved. Univariate analysis of OS demonstrated significant associations of operation time (hazard ratio [HR], 2.11; P = .0080), blood loss (HR, 2.85; P = .0003), all-layer tracheal resection (HR, 3.51; P = .0045), ypT (HR, 2.04; P = .022), and pathologic response (HR, 2.77; P = .0089).

Conclusions

If patient selection is highly selected, combined organ resection may be a feasible and promising option as a part of the multidisciplinary treatment for EC invading an adjacent organ.