Overview
The primary objective is to compare surgery with postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) versus surgery, in terms of the overall survival time (OS) in Stage II or III squamous cell esophageal carcinoma with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy(nCRT).
Description
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a common type of esophageal carcinoma in China, which is characterized by rapid development and fatal prognosis in most patients. Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) has been explored for many years in western countries and Japan, and proved to get survival benefit, especially for locally advanced esophageal cancer. However, the recurrence is the major cause of treatment failure in patients with ESCC. Our hypothesis is that inadequate radiation dose leads to recurrence of ESCC with nCRT and PORT lower recurrence rate and improved OS. As is known, there are no any studies concentrating on PORT in ESCC with nCRT. Patients are randomly assigned to PORT (Group A) or without PORT (Group B) with a 1:1 allocation ratio. The primary outcome is OS assessed with a minimum follow-up of 60 months. Secondary outcomes are progression-free survival (PFS), recurrence-free survival (RFS).