Association of Women Surgeons
The revised American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system (7th edition) improves prognostic stratification after minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophagogastric adenocarcinoma

Presented as a poster at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, January 16, 2014, Moscone West Building, San Francisco, California, and ASCO Annual Meeting 2014, May 31, 2014, McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago, Illinois.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2015.05.010Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Staging for esophagogastric adenocarcinoma lacked sufficient prognostic accuracy and was revised. We compared survival prognostication between American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 6th and 7th editions.

Methods

We abstracted data for 836 patients who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophagogastric adenocarcinoma (n = 256 neoadjuvant). Monotonicity and strength of survival trends, by stage, were assessed (log-rank test of trend chi-square statistic) and compared using permutation testing. Overall survival (Cox regression) and model fit (Akaike Information Criterion) were determined.

Results

A greater log-rank test of trend statistic indicated stronger survival trends by stage in AJCC 7th (152.872 vs 167.623; permutation test P < .001) edition. Greater Cox likelihood chi-square value (162.957 vs 173.951) and lower Akaike Information Criterion (4,831.011 vs 4,820.016) indicated better model fit. Superior performance was also shown after neoadjuvant therapy.

Conclusion

AJCC 7th edition staging for esophagogastric adenocarcinoma provides superior prognostic stratification after minimally invasive esophagectomy, overall and after neoadjuvant therapy compared with AJCC 6th edition.

Section snippets

Patient selection and data acquisition

We reviewed all patients (n = 836) with esophagogastric adenocarcinoma who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy—the preferred approach to esophagectomy at our center (January 1, 1997 to July 31, 2011). For this study, only patients having minimally invasive esophagectomy were included to minimize confounding of approach to operation on the completeness of pathologic staging (such as potential differences in node dissection between a transhiatal esophagectomy and minimally invasive

Results

Patients were predominantly Caucasian men in their 6th decade, with a slightly younger age and fewer comorbidities (including smoking and obesity) present in patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy (Table 1). Tumor characteristics in patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy showed a trend toward slightly larger tumor size, with a higher proportion of poorly differentiated tumors. These patients were more likely to receive adjuvant therapy compared with primary esophagectomy patients. Median

Comments

In this study, we have examined the application and strengths of the 7th edition AJCC staging system for esophageal adenocarcinoma in a large cohort of patients who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy, with a separate analysis in patients who underwent neoadjuvant therapy. We observed stronger monotone trend and greater discriminatory power with AJCC 7th edition; this superior performance was observed in the overall cohort and in the subset of patients who underwent minimally invasive

Conclusions

In conclusion, we found that AJCC 7th edition esophageal cancer staging system improves prognostic stratification of surgically resected esophagogastric adenocarcinoma patients, including patients who received neoadjuvant therapy, when compared with the 6th edition. To improve on the current system, future editions will likely expand beyond pathologic variables to include tumor-specific biomarkers.

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    The project described was supported by award numbers K07CA511613 (KSN), UL1 RR024153, and UL1TR000005 from the National Cancer Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health.

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