Preoperative therapy with insufficient effectiveness is related to unfavorable prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

The disadvantage brought by the preoperative therapy with insufficient effectiveness for the patients with esophageal carcinoma has not been previously investigated. The aim of the current study was to show that the prognosis of patients with advanced esophageal carcinoma treated with preoperative therapy with insufficient effectiveness may be rather more unfavorable than that of patients without preoperative therapy. The subjects were 406 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinomas of depth reaching to inuscitlaris propria or adventitia but not to neighboring structures, who had been treated with esophagectomy and reconstruction. Although the proportions of lymphatic invasion and venous invasion in patients treated with preoperative therapy of insufficient effect were lower than those of patients without preoperative therapy, the 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates in the former (62.2%, 32.0% and 23.1%, respectively) was significantly lower than in the latter (78.5%, 57.3% and 39.7%, respectively, p=0.01). A preoperative therapy with insufficient effectiveness may bring a more unfavorable prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.