title: [Preliminary experience of clinical applications of the 7th UICC-AJCC TNM staging system of esophageal carcinoma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the instructive value of the 6th and 7th editions of the UICC-AJCC staging system in prognosis of esophageal cancer (EC) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The staging and prognosis of 1397 esophageal carcinoma patients undergoing curative resection from Jan. 2003 to Dec. 2006 in our hospital were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed according to the 6th AJCC staging system and the 7th UICC-AJCC staging system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year overall survival (OS) of EC patients with curative resection was 38.5% (481/1250 cases), with a follow-up rate of 89.5% (1250/1397 case). In overall terms, both the editions were statistically significant discriminators of OS (P < 0.05). The 5-year OS of stages I, II and III patients were 64.9%, 43.5%, 25.2% according to the 6th edition, and 63.5%, 44.5%, 23.5% according to the 7th edition, respectively. Distinct differences in survival were present among patients categorized as stage Ia and Ib according to the 7th edition (P < 0.05), with a 5-year OS of 80.0% and 58.3%, respectively. Similarly, according to the 7th edition, the 5-year overall survivals (OS) of the stages IIIa, IIIb and IIIc patients were 28.2%, 18.4% and 16.7%, respectively, showing that the prognoses were significantly different (P < 0.05). In addition, according to the 7th edition, the prognoses of patients in stages N0, N1, N2 and N3 were also significantly different (P < 0.01), and the 5-year OS were 50.0%, 31.5%, 18.7% and 16.7%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both the 6th and 7th editions of UICC-AJCC staging system are significant discriminators for survival of esophageal cancer patients. The 7th edition is proved to be more accurate in prognosis. The number of lymph node metastases is an important predictor of prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital (Institute), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lü
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: You-sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Shu-geng
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Ju-wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Feng-wei
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Gui-yu
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016629:Esophagectomy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate