Background: Esophageal cancer is one of the most fatal and difficult-to-treat cancer. Multi-modality management is the key to success of improving outcomes, however, which modality is the most proper is difficult to determine.

Objective: To evaluate the overall survival (OS) of patients with early or locally-advanced (E/LA) esophageal carcinoma treated in Vajira Hospital. The outcomes of the multi-modality management among patients with E/LA diseases were evaluated.

Materials and Methods: The retrospective analyses of esophageal carcinoma patients who attended at Vajira Hospital between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016 were performed.

Results: There were 86 patients with complete medical records. The median age was 60.5 years (IQR 52 to 66). Sixty-five patients (75.6%) presented with E/LA diseases. Most of the patients had primary site at thoracic part of esophagus (58 patients, 67.4%) and had squamous cell carcinoma histology (84 patients, 97.7%). Tri-modality treatment including neoadjuvant chemoradiation and esophagectomy for clinically fitted patients without evidence of mediastinal involvement and non-regional lymph node metastasis resulted in the best survival outcome [28.56 months (IQR 10.64 to 46.47)]. The OS of patients with E/LA disease was only 9.15 months (IQR 4.49 to 23.02). Male patients, non-cervical site, and non-surgical treatment were associated with the worse OS.

Conclusion: The outcomes of patients with esophageal carcinoma treated in a real-world practice is still not impressive. Tri-modality management would be the best paradigm; however, it is suitable for well-selected patients.

Keywords: Esophageal cancer, Multi-modality treatment, Real-world practice

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2021.01.11486

Received 26 May 2020 | Revised 21 August 2020 | Accepted 21 August 2020