Prognosis of early squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus after surgical therapy

Between 1980 and 1995, 91 (13.7%) out of 666 patients were determined by pathologic staging to have a superficial squamous-cell esophageal carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus. The male to female ratio was 3.3:1, and the mean age 60 years. Postoperative mortality was 4.3%. The median follow-up was 48 months (range 3-179). Survival was significantly decreased with increased depth of tumour invasion and presence of nodal metastases (P=0.03). Recurrent disease was prevalent in patients with submucosal tumours compared to those with mucosal tumours (P < 0.05). Only intra-epithelial and intramucosal carcinomas deserve the definition of 'early' tumours. Given the relative inaccuracy of current staging modalities and the low morbidity and mortality rates associated with surgical resection, surgery appears to be the mainstay of treatment of superficial squamous-cell esophageal cancer.