Surveillance implications of recurrence patterns in early node-negative esophageal adenocarcinoma

Abstract Background There are limited data regarding optimal surveillance after curative resection for esophageal cancer. Once disease recurrence is diagnosed, the prognosis is poor. The purpose of this paper was to characterize disease recurrence in patients with early esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Methods There were 260 patients identified from a prospective institutional database with pathologic T1 and T2 node negative disease therapy treated with curative esophagectomy alone for EAC between 1995-2017. Competing risk analysis was used to analyze factors associated with recurrence. Results The 5-year cumulative incidence of recurrence was 12%. Predictive factors for increased risk of recurrence included increasing tumor size, poor differentiation and pathologic T2 disease (p Conclusions Among early node negative patients with esophageal cancer undergoing curative resection, 5-year recurrence was 12%. Survival after recurrence was poor and only a few patients had isolated locoregional recurrence at time of diagnosis suggesting that scheduled surveillance may have an important role.