The prognostic value of residual nodal disease following neoadjuvant chemoradiation for esophageal cancer in patients with complete primary tumor response

Background The prognostic significance of residual nodal disease in otherwise complete pathologic responders (ypT0N+) to neoadjuvant chemoradiation (nCRT) for esophageal cancer is unknown. Methods ypT0N+ responders were identified from a single institution database of esophageal cancer patients undergoing esophagectomy and were compared to patients without locoregional disease (ypT0N0) and to non‐complete responders (ypT+). Results Out of 487 patients, 196 ypT0N0 and 14 ypT0N+ patients were identified. Pre‐treatment stage was similar between ypT0N0 and ypT0N+ patients: 66% versus 73% of patients had uT3 disease ( P  = 0.50) and 76% versus 55% had nodal involvement ( P  = 0.49), respectively. Locoregional recurrence (43%) was more common in ypT0N+ patients. Median overall survival (OS) was worse in ypT0N+ patients (14.8 months) compared to ypT0N0 patients (92.2 months) and ypT+ patients (38.0 months, P  < 0.001). Median OS of ypT0N+ patients was similar to ypT+ stage II (29.6 months, P  = 0.84) and stage III (27.5 months, P  = 0.95) disease. No difference in median OS existed in patients with residual nodal disease (n = 163) based on local response (14.8 months in ypT0N+ and 22.5 months in ypT+N+ patients, P  = 0.55). Conclusions Residual nodal disease in esophageal cancer patients with complete response in the primary tumor following nCRT portends a poor prognosis and behaves similar to pathologic stage II/III disease. J. Surg. Oncol. 2015;112:597–602 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.