Pattern of recurrence following complete resection of esophageal carcinoma and factors predictive of recurrent disease.

Background: Despite increasingly radical surgery for esophageal carcinoma, a large number of patients still experience recurrent disease soon after operation. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the pattern of recurrence after curative esophagectomy for cancer of the thoracic esophagus and to identify factors predictive of recurrent disease.

Methods: A total of 439 consecutive patients discharged from the authors' institution following R0 resection between January 1982 and July 2002 were followed for evidence of recurrence over a mean interval of 37.