Individual patient data meta-analysis of neoadjuvant immunochemoradiotherapy versus neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in esophageal cancer

Neoadjuvant immunochemoradiotherapy (nICRT) is emerging as a promising treatment for resectable esophageal cancer (EC), but comprensive analyses comparing it to standard neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) are limited. An individual patient data meta-analysis of 37 studies evaluated outcomes of nICRT versus nCRT for resectable EC. nICRT demonstrated significantly longer overall survival than nCRT (HR 0.714; p=0.011) with three-year OS rates 66.4% versus 57.3%. Safety profiles were comparable, with no significant differences in grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events or postoperative complications between the groups. The authors conclude that nICRT showed superior survival compared to standard nCRT in resectable EC, with an acceptable safety profile.