Clinical T classification predicts tumour remnants and prognosis in patients with oesophageal squamous cell…

Cohort studyEuropean journal of surgical oncology : the journal of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and the British Association of Surgical Oncology· Jul 2026

Clinical T classification predicts tumour remnants and prognosis in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel/cisplatin/5-fluorouracil therapy followed by surgery.

Yusuke Muneoka, Hiroshi Ichikawa, Takeo Bamba … Toshifumi Wakai

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Esophageal SurgeryCohort studyPrognosisQ1IF 2.8

cT3br staging independently predicts markedly worse prognosis after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for oesophageal cancer

Clinical T classification predicts tumour remnants and prognosis in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel/cisplatin/5-fluorouracil therapy followed by surgery.

Yusuke Muneoka … Toshifumi Wakai

European journal of surgical oncology · Jul 2026 · Q1 in Surgery

Background

The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical significance of the newly proposed clinical T (cT) classification in the 12th edition of the Japanese Classification of Esophageal Cancer (Japanese Classification of Esophageal Cancer) in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma) who underwent neoadjuvant docetaxel/cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (DCF) therapy followed by oesophagectomy.

Methods

A total of 125 patients with thoracic oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent neoadjuvant DCF therapy followed by oesophagectomy between 2009 and 2019 were enrolled.

n = 125 patients

Results

cT3br tumor status linked to about 8-fold higher hazard of poor prognosis

HR 7.87 (95% CI 1.74 to 35.60)

CI excludes the null - significant

More results

The distribution of pretreatment cT status was as follows: cT1 in 6% of patients, cT2 in 10%, cT3r in 75%, cT3br in 6%, and cT4 in 3%.

Tumour remnants extending across diffuse layers were frequently observed in the cT3br and cT4 groups, and no cases of pathological complete response were observed in these groups.

More results

The cT3br group had the highest 5-year cumulative recurrence rate (83.3%), which was significantly higher than that in the cT3r group (P = 0.040).

Recurrence was more frequent in the cT3br and cT4 groups, particularly as local recurrence.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

The cT classification is predictive of residual tumour patterns and prognosis following neoadjuvant DCF therapy for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Further investigation is warranted to identify individualized treatment strategies that may improve outcomes in patients with cT3br and cT4 disease.

Clinical T classification predicts tumour remnants and prognosis in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel/cisplatin/5-fluorouracil therapy followed by surgery.

Clinical T classification predicts tumour remnants and prognosis in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel/cisplatin/5-fluorouracil therapy followed by surgery.

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