Systematic review and meta‐analysis on the significance of salvage esophagectomy for persistent or recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after definitive chemoradiotherapy

The therapeutic strategy to be recommended in case of recurrent or persistent squamous cell esophageal cancer after completed definitive chemoradiotherapy (dCRT) has to be documented. Salvage esophagectomy has traditionally been recognized as a viable option, but many clinicians oppose the use of surgery due to the associated excessive morbidity and mortality. ‘Second‐line’ chemoradiotherapy (CRT) without surgery may offer a treatment alternative in these difficult and demanding clinical situations. Until now, no comprehensive attempt has been carried out to compare the respective therapeutic options. A systematic literature search was performed focusing on studies comparing survival and treatment‐related mortality in patients submitted to salvage esophagectomy or second‐line CRT for recurrent or persistent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after dCRT. Hazard ratios and risk ratios were calculated to compare the effect of these therapeutic strategies on overall survival and treatment‐related mortality, respectively. Four studies containing 219 patients, with persistent or recurrent esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after dCRT, were included in the meta‐analysis. The analysis revealed an overall survival benefit following salvage esophagectomy with a pooled hazard ratio for death of 0.42 (95% confidence interval 0.21–0.86, P = 0.017) compared with second‐line CRT. A treatment‐related mortality of 10.3% was recorded in the 36 patients who were submitted to salvage esophagectomy, while it was impossible to perform a meta‐analysis comparing treatment‐related mortality between the groups. Salvage esophagectomy offers significant gain in long‐term survival compared with second‐line CRT, although the surgery is potentially at a price of a high treatment‐related mortality.