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Abstract Objective To establish the life expectancy burden of esophago‐gastric cancer by analyzing years of life lost (YLL) for a Western patient population after treatment of early esophageal (EAC) or early gastric (GAC) adenocarcinoma. Background For patients with early EAC or GAC, the short‐term prognosis after surgical resection is very good. Little data is available regarding long‐term prognosis when compared to the general population. Methods Two hundred and fourteen patients with pT1 EAC (n = 112) or GAC (n = 102) were included in the study. Patients with EAC underwent transthoracic en‐bloc esophagectomy; those with GAC had total or subtotal gastrectomy with D2‐lymphadenectomy. Surviving patients had a median follow‐up of approximately 14 years. YLL was calculated using average life expectancy data from Germany. Results Patients with EAC were younger (median age 61 years) than those with GAC (66 years) (p = 0.031). The male:female ratio was 10:1 for EAC and 3:2 for GAC (p

Abstract Oesophageal cancer (OC) has high mortality. This study aims at determining the feasibility of liquid biopsies for genomic profiling in early stage OC, comparing two different technologies for mutational analysis in circulating cell -free DNA (ccfDNA) and evaluating the clinical impact of these somatic alterations during primary staging. In 25 patients with locally advanced OC, endoscopic tumour biopsies and simultaneous blood samples were taken during primary staging. Genomic DNA from biopsies and ccfDNA were analysed for mutations using a 12 gene panel next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay as well as digital droplet PCR (ddPCR). Genetic data was correlated with patients’ outcome. In 21 of the tested biopsies (84%) at least one somatic mutation was detected by NGS. Mutations detected by NGS were detectable by ddPCR with similar allele frequencies. In three out of the 21 patients with proven mutations, the same mutations were also detectable in ccfDNA using NGS (14%). In contrast, ddPCR detected mutations in ccfDNA of five additional patients (8/21, 38%). Post-surgical outcome analysis was performed for those patients who had received complete tumour resection (n = 16). Five of them suffered from an early relapse within the first year after surgery, including four with detectable somatic mutations in ccfDNA during primary staging. Taken together, we showed a higher sensitivity for ddPCR compared to NGS in detecting mutated ccfDNA in OC. Detection of somatically altered ccfDNA during primary staging seems to be indicative for post-surgical tumour recurrence.