Cervical lymphadenectomy is beneficial for patients with carcinoma of the upper and mid-thoracic esophagus

• Published in: Diseases of the esophagus 2003-01, Vol.16 (1), p.4-8
• Main Authors: Nakagawa, S., Nishimaki, T., Kosugi, S., Ohashi, M., Kanda, T., Hatakeyama, K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biopsy, Needle; Case-Control Studies; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; Combined Modality Therapy; Esophageal Neoplasms - mortality; Esophageal Neoplasms - pathology; Esophageal Neoplasms - therapy; Esophagectomy - methods; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Lymph Node Excision - methods; Lymph Nodes - pathology; Lymph Nodes - surgery; Male; Middle Aged; Neck; Neoplasm Staging; Probability; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; Reference Values; Retrospective Studies; Risk Assessment; Statistics, Nonparametric; Survival Analysis; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1120-8694; 1442-2050
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1442-2050.2003.00286.x

The role of cervical lymphadenectomy for thoracic esophageal cancer is controversial. This study evaluated the impact of cervical lymphadenectomy on the cervical lymph node metastasis (LNM) and survival rates of patients with esophageal cancer. We analyzed 199 patients who received radical esophagectomy with three‐field lymphadenectomy. The overall 5‐year survival rate was 49.4%. Cervical LNM was found in 36 (18.1%) out of the 199 patients. The 5‐year survival rates of the patients with cervical LNM from upper and mid‐esophageal cancers were 71.4% and 35.9%, respectively. However, none of the patients with cervical LNM from lower esophageal cancer survived more than 4 years after esophagectomy. The overall survival of patients with five or more metastatic nodes (5.9%) was significantly worse than that of patients with less than five positive nodes (45.5%). Cervical lymphadenectomy is beneficial for patients with carcinoma of the upper and mid‐thoracic esophagus, and with less than five positive nodes.