Multicenter retrospective cohort study of survival impact of prior cancer in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is highly prevalent in Asian populations and carries a poor prognosis. With growing number of cancer survivors, the prognostic impact of prior cancer in ESCC remains unclear. A retrospective cohort study at 19 tertiary centers in South Korea investigated the prognostic impact of prior cancer in 5557 patients with newly diagnosed ESCC. Among these patients, 6.6% had a cancer history. Prior cancer was independently associated with poorer overall survival (HR 1.25; 95% CI 1.07-1.47) and esophageal cancer-specific survival (1.89; 1.09-3.29). Among prior cancer types, patients with a history of stomach, head and neck, or lung cancer demonstrated poorer overall survival. The negative association with survival was also found when the prior cancer occurred more than 5 years before ESCC diagnosis. The authors conclude that prior cancer was associated with worse prognosis in ESCC.