For patients with stage II\/III esophageal cancer, five-year survival is improved with early versus delayed esophagectomy<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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MONDAY, May 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Survival is similar with early versus delayed surgery in stage I esophageal cancer, while for stage II\/III cancer, five-year survival is improved with early surgery, according to a study published online May 12 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons<\/em>.<\/p>\n Simar S. Bajaj, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues examined survival of patients with stage I and II\/III esophageal cancer. Survival was compared for early (zero to four weeks after diagnosis) versus delayed (12 to 16 weeks after diagnosis) esophagectomy among patients with stage I esophageal cancer (226 and 316 patients, respectively), and for early (nine to 17 weeks after diagnosis) versus delayed (21 to 29 weeks after diagnosis) esophagectomy among patients with stage II\/III esophageal cancer who received timely chemoradiation (zero to four weeks after diagnosis; 1,236 and 200 patients, respectively).<\/p>\n The researchers found that in propensity score-matched analyses involving two groups of 134 patients with stage I esophageal cancer, five-year survival was comparable for early versus delayed esophagectomy (65.0 versus 65.1 percent). For the patients with stage II\/III esophageal cancer, in a propensity score-matched analysis involving two groups of 130 patients, five-year survival was improved in the early versus the delayed esophagectomy group (41.6 versus 22.9 percent).<\/p>\n “As we continue to move out of the COVID pandemic, surgeons are trying to address the backlog of patients with esophageal cancer,” Bajaj said in a statement. “The point of this study is to consider how we should reintegrate services in such a way that it prioritizes patients that are most at risk.”<\/p>\n