Factors Predictive of Improved Outcomes With Multimodality Local Therapy After Palliative Chemotherapy for Stage IV Esophageal Cancer

Objectives: We reviewed survival outcomes and factors associated with improved outcomes for patients with stage IVB esophageal cancer who received multimodality therapy with initial chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiation (CRT) +/- surgery. Methods: We retrospectively identified 96 patients with stage IVB esophageal carcinoma (with positive nonregional lymph nodes and/or distant organ metastasis) treated at a single institution with chemotherapy followed by concurrent CRT, with or without surgery. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to test associations between overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), locoregional relapse, distant metastasis-free survival, and potential predictive factors. Results: Median patient age at diagnosis was 59 years. The median OS time among all patients was 21.0 months, and 1-, 2-, and 5-year OS rates were 84.4%, 46.8%, and 17.9%, respectively; corresponding DFS time and rates were 8.1 months and 37%, 24.6%, and 24.6%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, factors that predicted improved OS with aggressive multimodal therapy included young age; lack of anorexia, fatigue at diagnosis; distant nodal metastasis without organ metastasis at diagnosis; and radiographic response to initial chemotherapy. A subset of 14 patients who had surgery after chemotherapy and concurrent CRT also had better median OS (not reached vs. 20mo for 82 patients who did not receive surgery, P = 0.001), DFS (14.6 vs. 5.9 mo, P = 0.021), and distant metastasis-free survival (26.7 vs. 9.2 mo, P = 0.042). Conclusions: Aggressive local therapy with radiation and potentially surgery after initial palliative chemotherapy can improve prognosis for a select group of patients with stage IVB esophageal cancer.