Does time to esophagectomy following neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma affect outcomes?

• Published in: Frontiers in immunology 2022-10, Vol.13, p.1036396-1036396
• Main Authors: Hong, Zhi-Nuan, Huang, Zhixin, Weng, Kai, Lin, Jihong, Kang, Mingqiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: disease free survival; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; Immunology; minimally invasive esophagectomy; neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy; time to surgery
• ISSN: 1664-3224; 1664-3224
• DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1036396

ObjectivesNeoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (nICT) is a novel pattern for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and the time to surgery (TTS) is recommended as 4-6 weeks. However, there were some patients with prolonged TTS(> 6 weeks). This study aimed to explore whether prolonged TTS (> 6 weeks) would affect the outcomes. MethodsPatients diagnosed with locally advanced ESCC between January 2020 and March 2022 and undergoing esophagectomy following nICT were identified based on a prospectively collected database. Primary outcome measures were pathological complete response (pCR) and disease-free survival (DFS), and the secondary outcomes were 30-day postoperative mortality and morbidity, surgical time, postoperative hospital stay, and hospital expense. ResultsTotal of 95 patients were included for analysis, with 52 patients in the standard TTS group and 43 patients in the prolonged TTS group. The clinical and demographic characteristics of the two groups were comparable. The prolonged group had a median 18 days longer TTS(P