“Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) followed by surgery is currently considered an important multimodality treatment option for patients with locally advanced esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer. Perioperative chemotherapy is an alternative multimodality treatment option for locally advanced gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. The overall survival of patients with locally advanced esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer treated with nCRT followed by surgery remains relatively poor with an estimated 5-year OS rate of 40% to 50%, predominantly due to distant recurrences.”

“This study shows that interval distant metastases develop in 7% of esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer patients who underwent nCRT according tothe CROSS protocol. The OS after the diagnosis of the primary tumor was 10 months. Independent prognostic factors for worse OS were signet ring cell carcinoma,poor differentiation grade, and lack of management in which metastases were treated. Median OS after the diagnosis of the primary tumor in patients with interval distant metastases was comparable with matched patients with synchronous distant metastases (P ¼ .760).”

Kroese TE, et al . Prognosis of Interval Distant Metastases After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Esophageal Cancer. Ann Thorac Surg. 2022 Feb;113(2):482-490. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2021.01.061. Epub 2021 Feb 18. Free Full Text