Safety and Feasibility of Esophagectomy Following Combined Immunotherapy and Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

OBJECTIVES: The combination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy (nICT) is a novel treatment for locally advanced esophageal cancer. There is concern that nICT may increase operation difficulty, postoperative morbidity, and mortality. This study aimed to compare short-term outcomes among esophagectomy after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and nICT and for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHODS: A retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database was performed to identify patients (from January 2017 through July 2021) who underwent surgery for ESCC following neoadjuvant therapy. A 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) with a caliper 0.05 was conducted to balance potential bias. RESULTS: A 1:1 PSM was conducted based on clinical stage, age, body mass index (BMI), and tumor location, and then 32 comparable pairs were matched. After PSM, age, gender, BMI, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) status, smoking history, clinical stage, tumor location, lymphadenectomy field, pathological stage, anastomotic position, route of gastric conduit, procedure type, and operative approach were comparable between groups. Compared with the nICT group (median, 300 min), the operation time was significantly longer in the nCRT group (median, 376 min). However, both groups were comparable in intraoperative blood loss, thoracic drainage volume, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, postoperative hospital stays, and hospital cost. Further, 30-day mortality, 30-day readmission, ICU readmission, and major complications were similar in both groups. The nCRT group had an advantage in pathological response. The pathological complete response (pCR) was 18.8% (6/32) in the nICT group and 43.8% (14/32) in the nCRT group (p = 0.03). The major pathological response (MPR) was 71.9% (23/32) in the nCRT group and 34.4% (11/32) in the nICT group (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Based on our preliminary experience, esophagectomy appears to be safe and feasible following combined neoadjuvant immunotherapy with chemotherapy for locally advanced esophageal cancer.