To compare neoadjuvant concurrent chemo-radiotherapy followed by surgery and neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery in carcinoma esophagus patients: A single institutional study in the Indian population

ABSTRACT Objective: This single institutional study compared neoadjuvant concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (NACCRT) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by surgery in locally advanced middle and lower-1/3 carcinoma esophagus patients in terms of toxicity, clinical response, operative complications, disease downstaging, resection rates, pathological response, recurrence, and survival. Materials and Methods: This randomized prospective comparative study comprised 40 consecutive patients divided equally between two study arms NACCRT ( n = 20; 41.4 Gy radiation dose; carboplatin area under the curve (AUC) 2/paclitaxel 50 mg/m 2 ; 5 cycles) and NACT ( n = 20; carboplatin AUC 5/paclitaxel 175 mg/m 2 ; 2 cycles) from March 2014 to December 2016. Follow-up was done for 4 years. Chi-square test, Fischer’s-exact test were used for comparative analysis and Kaplan-Meier analysis for survival. Results: Statistically significant esophagitis in NACCRT and peripheral-neuropathy in NACT was observed ( P < 0.001). NACCRT recorded more postoperative complications, higher complete resection (R0) rates, and pathologically complete response (pCR). Tumor downstaging was significant in both study groups (n < 0.001). Four-year median disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were 28.50 months and 38 months in NACCRT versus 28 months and 35.5 months in NACT, respectively. In both NACCRT and NACT, pCR cases showed improved median DFS and OS compared to pathological partial response (pPR) (n < 0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrated significant activity and tolerable toxicity of taxane-based therapy in NACCRT and NACT. Both groups recorded no survival benefit over each other, although pCR cases resulted in statistically significant survival advantage compared to clinical partial response. NACCRT resulted in lesser toxicity, numerically higher R0-resection, pCRs, median DFS, and OS compared to NACT.