title: Importance of surveillance and success of salvage strategies after definitive chemoradiation in patients with esophageal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with esophageal carcinoma (EC) who are treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (bimodality therapy [BMT]) experience frequent relapses. In a large cohort, we assessed the timing, frequency, and types of relapses during an aggressive surveillance program and the value of the salvage strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with EC (N = 276) who received BMT were analyzed. Patients who had surgery within 6 months of chemoradiotherapy were excluded to reduce bias. We focused on local relapse (LR) and distant metastases (DM) and the salvage treatment of patients with LR only. Standard statistical methods were applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median follow-up time was 54.3 months (95% CI, 48.4 to 62.4). First relapses included LR only in 23.2% (n = 64), DM with or without LR in 43.5% (n = 120), and no relapses in 33.3% (n = 92) of patients. Final relapses included no relapses in 33.3%, LR only in 14.5%, DM only in 15.9%, and DM plus LR in 36.2% of patients. Ninety-one percent of LRs occurred within 2 years and 98% occurred within 3 years of BMT. Twenty-three (36%) of 64 patients with LR only underwent salvage surgery, and their median overall survival was 58.6 months (95% CI, 28.8 to not reached) compared with those patients with LR only who were unable to undergo surgery (9.5 months; 95% CI, 7.8 to 13.3).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Unlike in patients undergoing trimodality therapy, for whom surveillance/salvage treatment plays a lesser role,(1) in the BMT population, approximately 8% of all patients (or 36% of patients with LR only) with LRs occurring more than 6 months after chemoradiotherapy can undergo salvage treatment, and their survival is excellent. Our data support vigilant surveillance, at least in the first 24 months after chemotherapy, in these patients.
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sudo
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Lianchun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Roopma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wadhwa
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiozaki
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Elimova
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taketa
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Mariela A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Manoop S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bhutani
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Ritsuko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Komaki
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Stephen G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Swisher
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Wayne L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Hofstetter
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Dipen M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Maru
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Heath D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.affiliation: All authors: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. jajani@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Jaffer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ajani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016879:Salvage Therapy