Retrospective cohort study on treatment modalities and survival time after oesophageal fistula in patients with oesophageal cancer in a regional cancer care centre in China

BACKGROUND: Oesophageal fistula (perforation) is a devastating complication in patients with oesophageal cancer. The optimal treatment remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE: We sought to present real-world evidence on treatment modalities and survival postfistula in patients with oesophageal cancer. DESIGN, SETTINGS AND MAIN OUTCOMES: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients with oesophageal cancer with oesophageal fistulae diagnosed between June 2010 and June 2020 in a regional cancer care centre in Zhengzhou, China (n=352). The treatment options included surgical resection, oesophageal stent grafting, gastrostomy, nasogastric tube and conservative care. The primary outcome was survival time (months) postfistula. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) life regression was used to estimate the differences in survival time accounting for potential confounders. RESULTS: The median survival time was 2.3 months (IQR: 0.7–6.0 months). Survival times were shorter in patients of male sex, T4 stage and oesophagotracheal versus oesophageal-mediastinal fistulae, and longer for any treatment option versus conservative care. The IPTW life regression analyses showed that in patients with oesophagotracheal fistulae, survival times were longer for stent grafting (+0.90 (95% CI 0.60 to 1.19) months) or gastrostomy (+0.81 (95% CI 0.47 to 1.13) months) versus nasogastric tube. In patients with oesophageal-mediastinal fistulae, survival times were shorter for stent grafting versus nasogastric tube (−0.36 (95% CI –0.63 to –0.09) months) and gastric tube (−0.29 (95% CI −0.50 to –0.08) months). Surgical resection was recorded in nine patients with oesophageal-mediastinal fistulae, and it was associated with the longest survival time in these patients. CONCLUSIONS: Stent grafting or gastrostomy may be preferable to nasogastric tube in survival prognosis for patients with oesophageal cancer with oesophagotracheal fistulae. In contrast, stent grafting may be not preferable to nasogastric tube or gastrostomy in survival prognosis for patients with oesophageal-mediastinal fistulae.