A matched cohort comparison of endoscopic resection, chemoradiation and esophagectomy in the treatment of early-stage esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

The efficacy of endoscopic resection in early-stage esophageal squamous cell carcinoma has not been defined.We queried the National Cancer Database to identify patients presenting with cT1N0M0 esophageal squamous cell cancer between 2004 and 2017. Transitive match methods were used to 1:1:1 propensity match patients undergoing endoscopic resection to patients undergoing esophagectomy and those undergoing definitive chemoradiotherapy. Kaplan Meier method was used to compare 5-year overall survival profiles for matched cohorts.301 patients (19%) underwent endoscopic resection; 497 (32%) esophagectomy; 767 (49%) chemoradiation. On comparison of matched cohorts, patients undergoing chemoradiation demonstrated lower rates of survival than those undergoing esophagectomy (32% vs. 59%, p 0.0001) while those undergoing endoscopic resection demonstrated rates comparable to patients undergoing esophagectomy (53% vs. 59%, p = 0.77).For cT1N0M0 esophageal squamous cell cancer, endoscopic resection is associated with rates of survival similar to those following esophagectomy and better than those following definitive chemoradiation.