Effects of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy on postoperative morbidity and mortality associated with esophageal cancer

We compared the surgical outcomes between 114 patients who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy (group 1) and 92 others who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) (group 2), and assessed the preoperative and surgical factors that influence postoperative morbidity to determine the impact of nCRT on morbidity and mortality after esophagectomy via cervical, right transthoracic, and abdominal approaches. The overall postoperative morbidity rates were 44.7% and 55.4% in groups 1 and 2, respectively (P = 0.13). Rates of anastomotic leak (8.8% vs. 16.3%; P = 0.10), pneumonia (9.6% vs. 13.0%; P = 0.44), recurrent nerve palsy (15.8% vs. 10.9%; P = 0.31), and all other complications did not significantly differ between the groups. Multivariable analysis revealed cervical lymph node dissection (odds ratio [OR], 1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01–3.84; P = 0.047) as the sole independent covariate for overall morbidity. Furthermore, a history of cardiovascular disease (OR, 2.90; 95% CI, 1.03–8.24; P = 0.045), the retrosternal reconstruction route (OR, 15.15; 95% CI, 3.56–62.50; P = 0.0002), and a longer surgical duration (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.002–1.02; P = 0.01) were independent covariates for anastomotic leakage, and advanced age (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01–1.15; P = 0.02) and lower body mass index (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.01–1.33; P = 0.04) were independent covariates for pneumonia. However, whether or not patients received nCRT was irrelevant. We found that nCRT is safe for three-incision esophagectomy and it does not increase the incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality relative to esophagectomy alone.