Aim: A consensus treatment strategy for recurrent esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) has not been established. The purpose of the present study was to analyse the mode of recurrence, and evaluate the role of surgical salvage treatment in recurrence of ESCC.
Methods: Recurrence was detected in 131 of 367 consecutive patients with ESCC. We retrospectively analysed the mode of recurrence and treatment for recurrence. Recurrence was divided into four types; lymph node, hematogeneous, mixed and local. Treatments were classified into four groups; chemotherapy alone (C group), radiation therapy +/- chemotherapy (R group), surgery +/- other therapy (S group), and no therapy (N group).
Results: Of the 131 recurrences, the number of patients with lymph node, hematogeneous, mixed and local recurrence was 43, 44, 40 and 4, respectively. The number of patients in the C, R, S, N groups was 35, 35, 24 and 37, respectively. Of the 24 patients who received surgical treatment for recurrence, the number of patients with lymph node, hematogeneous, mixed and local recurrence was 11, 6, 6 and 1, respectively. The number of lesions in hematogeneous recurrence was 2 or less. The survival rate from recurrence to death in the C, R, S and N groups was 0, 3.9, 6.7 and 0%, respectively. A statistically significant difference was found in these groups (p < 0.0001).
Conclusions: Salvage surgery is one of the useful treatment tools for resectable metastatic lesions. In such cases, the number of lesions, recurrent sites and effectiveness of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy should be carefully evaluated.