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Nodal Skip Metastasis is not a Predictor of Survival in Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

  • Thoracic Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

The presence of nodal skip metastasis (NSM) has been found to be of clinical importance in non-small cell lung cancer, but the study of this phenomenon in esophageal carcinoma is relatively rare. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors influencing NSM and to assess its prognostic value in thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods

A total of 207 patients with thoracic ESCC who underwent three-field lymphadenectomy and who had lymph node metastasis were reviewed. Associations of NSM occurrence with the clinicopathological characteristics of patients and primary tumors were evaluated using logistic regression analysis. The influence of NSM on the overall survival (OS) was assessed by log-rank tests and Cox regression analysis.

Results

NSM were present in 58 (26 %) patients. No factor was significantly associated with the incidence of NSM except for the location of primary tumor. There were no NSMs in the 29 patients from our study with upper thoracic ESCC, and the rates of tumors occurrence in the middle and lower third of the esophagus were 38.9 and 14.9 %, respectively. The median OS was 30 months, and no significant difference in OS was found between the patients with or without NSM (p = 0.767). Only N status was found to be the independent risk factor for OS by Cox multivariate analysis.

Conclusions

NSM is common in thoracic ESCC, especially in patients with tumors located in the middle and lower third of the esophagus. However, the presence of NSM did not predict prognosis.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Financial Support

There’s no specific funding support this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China

    Zhengfei Zhu MD, Kuaile Zhao MD, Weixin Zhao MD & Xiaolong Fu MD

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Six Hospital of Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Weiwei Yu MD

  3. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China

    Hecheng Li MD, Yawei Zhang MD, Haiquan Chen MD & Jiaqing Xiang MD

  4. Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China

    Menghong Sun MD & Qiao Wei MD

  5. Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Zhengfei Zhu MD, Hecheng Li MD, Kuaile Zhao MD, Weixin Zhao MD, Yawei Zhang MD, Menghong Sun MD, Qiao Wei MD, Haiquan Chen MD, Jiaqing Xiang MD & Xiaolong Fu MD

Authors
  1. Zhengfei Zhu MD
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  2. Weiwei Yu MD
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  3. Hecheng Li MD
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  4. Kuaile Zhao MD
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  5. Weixin Zhao MD
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  7. Menghong Sun MD
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  8. Qiao Wei MD
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  9. Haiquan Chen MD
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  10. Jiaqing Xiang MD
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  11. Xiaolong Fu MD
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiaqing Xiang MD or Xiaolong Fu MD.

Additional information

Zhengfei Zhu and Weiwei Yu contributed equally to this study and both should be considered first author.

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Zhu, Z., Yu, W., Li, H. et al. Nodal Skip Metastasis is not a Predictor of Survival in Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Ann Surg Oncol 20, 3052–3058 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-2987-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-013-2987-5

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