Successful treatment of S-1 + CDDP followed by salvage EMR for a case with metastatic Barrett's esophageal cancer

"Find Your Y": histological differences in early stage (pT) and post-treatment (ypT) oesophageal adenocarcinoma with implications for salvage endoscopic resection

AIMS

Current guidelines offer limited strategies for managing recurrent/persistent oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Salvage endoscopic mucosal/submucosal resection (ER) shows promise in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, however its success in EAC is limited. We aimed to elucidate histological characteristics influencing salvage ER success in patients with low-stage, pretreated EAC.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed 272 EAC tumours postoesophagectomy from five US centres and collected clinicopathological data including discontinuous growth (DG), defined as separate tumour foci ≥2 mm from the main tumour. We selected 101 patients with low-stage disease and divided them into treatment-naïve (n=70) and neoadjuvant therapy (n=31) groups. We compared the two groups and differences in clinical, histological and outcome characteristics were identified.

RESULTS

In the entire cohort (n=272), DGs were identified in 22% of cases. Multivariate analysis revealed DGs as an independent prognostic factor for recurrence and positive oesophagectomy margins. Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and background intestinal metaplasia predicted DG presence and absence, respectively. Compared with the treatment-naïve low T-stage subgroup, the pretreated subgroup exhibited higher incidence of poorly differentiated carcinoma (16% vs 46%, p=0.007), larger tumours (14 vs 30 mm, p<0.001), higher tumour, node, metastases stage (7% vs 30%, p=0.004), more nodal disease (7% vs 36%, p<0.001) and frequent DGs (1% vs 13%, p=0.030).

CONCLUSIONS

In treated low T-stage EACs, DGs may contribute to suboptimal outcomes following salvage ER. Presence of LVI (as a surrogate for DGs) and poor differentiation in the absence of intestinal metaplasia in biopsy samples may serve as histological poor prognosticators in treated patients with EAC being considered for salvage ER.

Salvage endoscopic resection in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma after chemoradiotherapy

Background and study aims  For early esophageal adenocarcinoma, endoscopic resection is an accepted curative treatment with an excellent long-term prognosis. Case series from Japan have reported endoscopic resection of residual esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after chemoradiotherapy. This is the first report describing endoscopic resection of residual esophageal adenocarcinoma after chemoradiotherapy. Two patients with advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma had been treated with chemoradiotherapy because comorbidity precluded esophageal resection. When residual tumor was observed endoscopically, complete remission was achieved by salvage endoscopic therapy alone or in combination with argon plasma coagulation (APC). Both patients achieved long-term sustained remission and died of non-tumor-related causes.