Long-term follow-up after endoscopic resection for superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a multicenter Western study.

Background: Endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) are the first-line treatments for superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This study aimed to compare long-term clinical outcome and oncological clearance between EMR and ESD for the treatment of superficial esophageal SCC.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter study in five French tertiary care hospitals. Patients treated by EMR or ESD for histologically proven superficial esophageal SCC were included consecutively.

Results: Resection was performed for 148 tumors (80 EMR, 68 ESD) in 132 patients. The curative resection rate was 21.3 % in the EMR group and 73.5 % in the ESD group ( < 0.001). The recurrence rate was 23.7 % in the EMR group and 2.9 % in the ESD group ( = 0.002). The 5-year recurrence-free survival rate was 73.4 % in the EMR group and 95.2 % in the ESD group ( = 0.002). Independent factors for cancer recurrence were resection by EMR (hazard ratio [HR] 16.89,  = 0.01), tumor infiltration depth ≥ m3 (HR 3.28,  = 0.02), no complementary treatment by chemoradiotherapy (HR 7.04,  = 0.04), and no curative resection (HR 11.75,  = 0.01). Risk of metastasis strongly increased in patients with tumor infiltration depth ≥ m3, and without complementary chemoradiotherapy ( = 0.02).

Conclusion: Endoscopic resection of superficial esophageal SCC was safe and efficient. Because it was associated with an increased recurrence-free survival rate, ESD should be preferred over EMR. For tumors with infiltration depths ≥ m3, chemoradiotherapy reduced the risk of nodal or distal metastasis.