The role of surgery in advanced disease for esophageal and junctional cancer

The incidence of esophageal and junctional cancer has been increasing in western industrialized nations in the past 30 years. At the time of diagnosis, approximately 50% of patients with esophageal and junctional cancers have distant metastases and are considered incurable. In the recent ESMO guidelines and the German S3 guidelines, surgical therapy for metastatic disease is not recommended. In spite of these recommendations, the treatment of limited metastatic (oligo-metastastic) esophagogastric cancer is currently undergoing a shift towards a more aggressive therapy. Selected patients with oligo-metastatic disease may be considered for surgical resection of the primary tumor and the metastases after chemo(radio)therapy and careful evaluation in an interdisciplinary tumor board. We discuss in this review the literature and some guidelines for extended surgical approaches is laid out. In the future, randomized prospective studies like the German RENAISSANCE/FLOT5 trial and the French SURGIGAST trial will feed us with more evidence if multimodal therapy including surgery for limited metastatic disease is indicated

Outcomes after Surgical Treatment of Oesophagogastric Cancer with Synchronous Liver Metastases: A Multicentre Retrospective Cohort Study

Approximately 10–12% of patients with oesophageal or gastric cancer (OGC) present with oligometastatic disease at diagnosis. It remains unclear if there is a role for radical surgery in these patients. We aimed to assess the outcomes of OGC patients who underwent simultaneous treatment for the primary tumour and synchronous liver metastases. Patients with OGC who underwent surgical treatment between 2008 and 2020 for the primary tumour and up to five synchronous liver metastases aiming for complete tumour removal or ablation (i.e., no residual tumour) were identified from four institutional databases. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS), calculated with the Kaplan–Meier method. Secondary outcomes were disease-free survival and postoperative outcomes. Thirty-one patients were included, with complete follow-up data for 30 patients. Twenty-six patients (84%) received neoadjuvant therapy followed by response evaluation. Median OS was 21 months [IQR 9–36] with 2- and 5-year survival rates of 43% and 30%, respectively. While disease recurred in 80% of patients (20 of 25 patients) after radical resection, patients with a solitary liver metastasis had a median OS of 34 months. The number of liver metastases was a prognostic factor for OS (solitary metastasis aHR 0.330; p-value = 0.025). Thirty-day mortality was zero and complications occurred in 55% of patients. Long-term survival can be achieved in well-selected patients who undergo surgical resection of the primary tumour and local treatment of synchronous liver metastases. In particular, patients with a solitary liver metastasis seem to have a favourable prognosis

The impact of signet ring cell differentiation on outcome in patients with esophageal and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma

Background: Little is known about the association between signet ring cell (SRC) differentiation and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in patients with esophageal and junctional adenocarcinoma (EAC). We aimed to assess if SRC differentiation is associated with survival and response to nCT or nCRT in patients with EAC. Methods: Patients who underwent nCT and nCRT followed by surgery for EAC from 2000 until 2016 were identified from two institutional prospectively maintained databases. The pretreatment biopsy report or surgical resection specimen was used to differentiate patients into an SRC or non-SRC group. Results: Overall, 129 (19%) of 689 patients included had SRCs (nCT: n = 64; nCRT: n = 65). The SRC group had a more advanced ypT stage (p = 0.003), a higher number of positive lymph nodes in the resection specimen {median (interquartile range [IQR]) 2 [0–5] vs. 1 [0–3]; p = 0.002} and a higher rate of R1/R2 resections (19.4% vs. 12%; p = 0.026). SRC differentiation was not an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS). Following nCT, the SRC group had significantly shorter DFS (median [IQR] 12 [5–50] vs. 23 [8–164]; p = 0.013), but not OS, compared with the non-SRC group. In contrast, no differences according to SRC status for OS or DFS were found in patients who underwent nCRT. Conclusions: SRC differentiation was not independently associated with worse OS in patients with EAC who underwent neoadjuvant therapy and surgery. However, nCRT was associated with greater tumor downstaging and better DFS