Do statins improve the survival time after esophagectomy? —a propensity score matching study

Esophageal cancer is the 8th common malignant tumor and the 6th common cancer-related cause death worldwide, especially in undeveloped regions (1,2). Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most common type and male is about twice as likely as women (3). Esophagectomy combined with radiotherapy or/and chemotherapy is the main treatment, especially in the rapid development of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) (4), however the prognosis is far from satisfaction, and the five-year survival rate of esophageal cancer is still 18.4% (5). Studies suggested statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) improve the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients (6-8). We reviewed and compared the prognosis of 27 statins users with that of 711 non-users in our database using propensity score matching analyses.