Immunotherapy with or without radiotherapy for metastatic or recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: A real-world study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficiency and safety of immunotherapy combined with or without radiotherapy (RT) for metastatic or recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed data of 127 patients with metastatic or recurrent ESCC, who received immunotherapy with or without RT at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute between 2017 and 2021. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 15.7 months (95 % confidence interval (CI): 12.42–18.99). The median PFS of the RT and NRT groups was 5.45 months (95 % CI: 2.89–8.28) and 4.60 months (95 % CI: 3.75–7.06), respectively (P = 0.660). The median OS was 11.9 (95 % CI: 8.61–19.2) and 10.3 (95 % CI: 7.56–15.8) months, respectively (P = 0.890). The median PFS of locoregional recurrence patients in the RT and NRT groups was 11.27 months (95 % CI: 2.45–20.09) and 4.17 months (95 % CI: 2.64–5.71), respectively (P = 0.081). The median OS of locoregional recurrent patients in the RT and NRT groups was 19.48 months (95 % CI: 8.37–30.60) and 7.69 months (95 % CI: 3.45–11.93), respectively (P = 0.026). 64 % of patients in the RT group and 30 % of patients in the NRT group experienced an improvement in dysphagia (P = 0.033). No significant increase in treatment-related toxicity was observed in the RT group compared with the NRT group, except for some hematological complications. CONCLUSIONS: Locoregional recurrent patients gained survival benefits from immunotherapy combined with RT. The combination of immunotherapy and RT was safe in metastatic/recurrent ESCC patients. RT for the esophagus leads to the improvement of dysphagia compared to immunotherapy alone.