National Cancer Database analysis of treatment patterns and survival in stage II and III esophageal cancer

It is not clear whether trial findings on different treatment modalities for esophageal cancer are reflected in the patterns of care and survival outcomes among patients in the clinical setting. A cohort study using data from the National Cancer Database evaluated the association of treatment patterns and survival among patients with stage II or III esophageal cancer in the real world. In the NCDB (2006-2020) 57,116 patients who received four treatment modalities were identified. Survival analysis showed that use of neoadjuvant chemoradiation with surgical resection was associated with improved overall survival compared with definitive chemoradiation or radiotherapy alone, while perioperative chemotherapy was associated with improved overall survival for adenocarcinoma.