Why is endosonography insufficient for residual diagnosis after neoadjuvant therapy for esophageal cancer? Solutions using muscle layer evaluation

Table 1 Patients’ characteristics

	All population (n = 23)	NAC (n = 15)	CRT (n = 8)
Age (yr)
Median (range)	72 (43-81)	72 (43-78)	72 (49-81)
Sex
Male	19	12	7
Female	4	3	1
Tumor location
Ut	2	2	0
Mt	15	8	7
Lt	4	4	0
Ae	2	1	1
Clinical T stage
cT1b	1	1	0
cT2	3	3	0
cT3	11	11	0
cT4a	1	0	1
cT4b	7	0	7
Chemotherapy regimen
CF	21	13	8
DCF	2	2
Total irradiation dose
38-40Gy	6		6
60Gy	2		2
Time of surgery after therapy (d)
Median (range)	37 (31-61)	36 (31-61)	40 (35-57)
Pathological T stage
pT0	3	1	2
pT1a	3	1	2
pT1b	6	6	0
pT2	3	1	2
pT3	8	6	2
Pathological response
Grade1	13	11	2
Grade2	7	3	4
Grade3	3	1	2

Ut: Upper thoracic esophagus; Mt: Middle thoracic esophagus; Lt: Lower thoracic esophagus; Ae: Abdominal esophagus; CF: Cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil; DCF: Docetaxel plus cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil; NAC: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy; CRT: Chemoradiotherapy.