Objective To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of patients with esophageal cancer.

Methods The retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 447 patients with esophageal cancer who were admitted to the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2020 were collected. There were 312 males and 135 females, aged 60(range, 37‒82)years. Observation indica-tors: (1) clinicopathological characteristics; (2) treatment; (3) follow-up; (4) analysis of prognostic factors for esophageal cancer. Follow-up using telephone interview or outpatient examination was conducted to detect survival of patients up to December 2021. The total survival time was from the surgery date to death or the last follow-up. Patients with duration of follow-up more than 2 years were included for survival and prognostic analysis. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range). Count data were represented as absolute numbers. Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw survival curves and calculate survival rates. Log-Rank test was used for survival analysis. Univariate analysis was conducted using the Log-rank test. Multivariate analysis was conducted using the COX hazard regression model.

Results (1) Clinicopathological characteristics. Of the 447 patients, 69.80%(312/447) were males and 30.20%(135/447) were females, and there were 3, 18, 101, 229, 93, 3 cases aged 30‒39 years, 40‒49 years, 50‒59 years, 60‒69 years, 70‒79 years, 80‒89 years, respectively. About the pathological type, there were 424 cases with squamous carcinoma, 11 cases with small cell carcinoma, 4 cases with adenosquamous carcinoma, 3 cases with sarco-matoid carcinoma, 2 cases with adenocarcinoma, 1 case with neuroendocrine carcinoma, 1 case with undifferentiated carcinoma, and 1 case with adenoid cystic carcinoma. There were 2 cases with tumor located at cervicothoracic segment, 49 cases with tumor located at upper thoracic segment, 273 cases with tumor located at mid-thoracic segment, and 123 cases with tumor located at lower thoracic segment. There were 6, 24, 74, 59, 192, 80, 12 cases in stage pT0, pT1a, pT1b, pT2, pT3, pT4a, pT4b of pathological T staging, respectively. There were 207, 63, 142, 28, 7 cases in stage pN0, pN1, pN2, pN3, pN4 of pathological N staging by Japan Esophagus Society (JES), respectively. There were 207, 128, 76, 36 cases in stage pN0, pN1, pN2, pN3 of pathological N staging by Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), respectively. About TNM staging, there were 25, 53, 127, 174, 68 cases in stage 0, Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳa of JES staging, and 16, 9, 53, 35, 108, 96, 45, 85 cases in stage 0, Ⅰa, Ⅰb,Ⅱa, Ⅱb, Ⅲa, Ⅲb, Ⅲc of UICC staging, respectively. (2) Treatment. Of the 447 patients, 63 cases underwent neoadjuvant therapy(12 cases combined with immunotherapy), 384 cases underwent no neoadjuvant therapy. There were 347, 97, 2, 1 cases with surgical approach as right thoracic approach, left thoracotomy approach, cervical abdominal approach, left thoracoabdominal approach, respectively. There were 316, 5, 126 cases with surgical platform as totally endoscopic esophagec-tomy, Hybrid surgery, open surgery, respectively. There were 350 and 97 cases with digestive recons-truction as posterior mediastinal approach and intrathoracic approach, respectively. Surgical margin as R₀, R₁, R₂ resection was detected in 323, 116, 8 cases, respectively. Six of 447 patients died during the hospital stay. (3) Follow-up. All the 447 patients were followed up for 25(range, 2‒48)months, including 233 cases with the follow-up more than 2 years. The median survival time of 233 patients was unreached, and the postoperative 2-year survival rate was 76.8%. (4) Analysis of prognostic factors for esophageal cancer. Results of univariate analysis showed that gender, neoadjuvant therapy, surgical margin, pT staging, pN staging by JES, pN staging by UICC, TNM staging by JES, TNM staging by UICC were related factors influencing prognosis of 233 patients with esophageal cancer (χ²=6.62, 17.81, 32.95, 37.93, 27.06, 35.56, 45.24, 37.84, P<0.05). Results of multivariate analysis showed that gender, surgical margin, TNM staging by JES were independent factors influencing prognosis of 233 patients with esophageal cancer (hazard ratio=0.48, 1.94, 1.46, 95% confidence intervals as 0.25‒0.91, 1.07‒3.52, 1.16‒1.84, P<0.05).

Conclusions The incidence of esophageal cancer is relatively high in males, with the onset age mainly distribute in 60‒69 years and the mainly pathological type as squamous carcinoma. Patients with esophageal cancer have advanced tumor staging, low proportion of neoadjuvant therapy, high R₀ resection rate of surgical treatment. Gender, surgical margin, TNM staging by JES are independent factors influencing prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer.