Prognostic difference of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma based on tumor differentiation: a single center retrospective study.

Background: Tumor differentiation is recognized as a prognostic predictor in certain malignancies such as gastric cancer. Although some studies have indicated a prognostic role for tumor differentiation in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), that is not widely known. Therefore, in this study, we retrospectively investigated the prognostic value of tumor differentiation in ESCC.

Methods: This study investigated the prognostic value of tumor differentiation by using data from patients who underwent radical esophagectomy for ESCC. The characteristics of patients with well differentiated, moderately differentiated, and poorly differentiated ESCCs were investigated and compared Survival analysis was conducted using Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model.

Results: This study included 226 ESCC patients. The frequencies of each ESCC type were as follows: well-differentiated ESCC, 49 cases (21.7%); moderately differentiated ESCC, 149 cases (65.9%); and poorly differentiated ESCC, 28 cases (12.4%). Although Kaplan-Meier analysis showed no statistical significance for overall survival (OS) or recurrence (p = 0.083 and p = 0.36, respectively), Cox regression analysis demonstrated that tumor differentiation, particularly poorly differentiated ESCC, was a statistically significant factor for survival both in univariable and multivariable analyses (p = 0.03 and p < 0.01, respectively).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that tumor differentiation in ESCC may be a useful predictor of survival. However, owing to the small sample size, especially in patients who received preoperative treatment, further studies are required to establish definitive evidence.