Three-Year Survival after Lymphadenectomy for Residual Lymph Node Metastasis of Esophageal Cancer with Invasion into the Trachea and Carotid Artery after Chemoradiotherapy - A Case Report

INTRODUCTION: Chemoradiotherapy(CRT)is an effective treatment method for esophageal cancer. In early stages, it is a standard therapy combined with surgery. However, CRT achieves definitive complete response(CR)in only about 20% of advanced cancer with invasion into adjacent organs. Then, surgery is the only treatment for curative therapy. We report a case of a patient with 3-year survival who underwent lymphadenectomy for residual cancer after CRT for advanced esophageal cancer with invasion into the trachea and right cervical artery.

CASE DESCRIPTION: The patient was a 71-year-old woman. Various examinations revealed a cervical esophageal cancer, which had a right cervical lymph node metastasis with invasion into the trachea and right common cervical artery(cT4b[LYM-Tr, RCCA], N1, M0, cStage III C(UICC TNM classification). Induction chemotherapy(DCF; docetaxel[DTX]plus cisplatin[CDDP]plus 5-fluorouracil[5-FU])was initiated, but neither the cancer primary site nor the lymph node metastasis decreased. Then, she received chemoradiotherapy(5-FU plus CDDP and 40.8 Gy). After that, endoscopic and pathological examination showed CR of the primary site, but CT still indicated the presence of a residual lesion in the lymph node. As we diagnosed the residual tumor as being close to the trachea and RCCA, but not infiltrating them, lymphadenectomy was performed, which was possible to preserve the trachea and RCCA. The postoperative histopathological report indicated lymph node metastasis in the right cervical lymph node with a negative radial margin. It has now been about 3 years since her operation, and she is alive and disease-free.