Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy or Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Chemotherapy and chemoradiation have become essential adjuncts to improve the survival of patients with resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in the perioperative period. Although preoperative treatment plus surgery is commonly used, controversy remains regarding the optimal treatment strategy for patients with locally advanced ESCC.

Methods: A retrospective review of clinical stage II and III ESCC patients who underwent esophagectomy at Henan Cancer Hospital between October 2014 and October 2017 was performed.

A multicenter randomized, controlled clinical trial of adjuvant sintilimab for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

No adjuvant treatment has been established for patients who remain at high risk of recurrence and incidental pathologic lymph node metastasis for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In this open-label, multicenter, phase III, randomized controlled trial, ESCC patients who did not achieve pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus surgery and clinical T1-2 N0 patients with incidental pathologic lymph node metastasis following initial surgery were randomized at a 2:1 ratio to receive either a sintilimab regimen or observational management (NCT05495152). The primary end point was disease-free survival for all randomized patients.

Initial experience with modified en bloc robot-assisted minimally invasive oesophagectomy for thoracic oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: The feasibility and safety of en bloc robot-assisted minimally invasive oesophagectomy (RAMIE) need to be verified.

Methods: Forty-seven patients who received conventional RAMIE and 31 who received modified en bloc RAMIE at Henan Cancer Hospital were included in the study cohort. We compared the perioperative outcomes of conventional RAMIE and modified en bloc RAMIE.

Perioperative Outcomes and Learning Curve of Robot-Assisted McKeown Esophagectomy.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the perioperative outcomes of patients undergoing robot-assisted McKeown esophagectomy (RAME) and the learning curves of surgeons performing RAME at a single center.

Methods: Perioperative outcomes of RAME and video-assisted McKeown esophagectomy (VAME) were compared after eliminating confounding factors by propensity score matching (PSM). The cumulative sum (CUSUM) method was used to evaluate the learning curves of RAME for a single surgical team.