Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Sep 27, 2022; 14(9): 997-1007
Published online Sep 27, 2022. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v14.i9.997
Oesophageal cancer metastases: An observational study of a more aggressive approach
Lianne Pickett, Mary Dunne, Orla Monaghan, Liam Grogan, Oscar Breathnach, Thomas N Walsh
Lianne Pickett, Department of Surgery, Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, Dublin D15 X40D, Ireland
Mary Dunne, Clinical Trials Resource Unit, St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, Dublin D06 HH36, Ireland
Orla Monaghan, Department of Radiation Oncology, St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, Dublin D06 HH36, Ireland
Liam Grogan, Oscar Breathnach, Department of Medical Oncology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin D09 V2N0, Ireland
Thomas N Walsh, Department of Surgery, RCSI Bahrain, Adliya 15503, Bahrain
Author contributions: Walsh TN was the guarantor, designed the study, participated in the acquisition of data, and revised and edited the article critically; Pickett L acquired, analysed, and interpreted the data and drafted the initial manuscript; Dunne M statistically analysed the data and edited the manuscript; Monaghan O, Grogan L, and Breathnach O reviewed the article and made critical revisions related to important intellectual content.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Connolly Hospital Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: As this was a retrospective audit and many patients were not alive at the commencement of this study, written informed consent was not feasible/obtained. This was an observational study, and no patient received treatment as part of the study. Furthermore, we have not included any identifiable patient information in our manuscript. Verbal consent, although not required, was obtained where appropriate/feasible.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The statistical analysis and dataset are available from the corresponding author at lianne.pickett@ucdconnect.ie. As this was a retrospective audit consent was not routinely obtained but the presented data are anonymized, and risk of identification is low.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lianne Pickett, MB, ChB, MCh, Doctor, Department of Surgery, Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, Mill Road, Abbots Town, Dublin D15 X40D, Ireland. lianne.pickett@ucdconnect.ie
Received: December 18, 2021
Peer-review started: December 18, 2021
First decision: April 19, 2022
Revised: May 4, 2022
Accepted: August 30, 2022
Article in press: August 30, 2022
Published online: September 27, 2022
Core Tip

Core Tip: Modern imaging technologies can detect oligometastatic oesophageal cancer earlier than ever before, and targeted multimodal therapies, combined with innovative surgery, increases the potential for cure. Unfortunately, current guidelines do not reflect these advances and all too often consign patients to palliation. This approach is incongruous with other oligometastatic cancers such as colorectal cancer. Based on the survival outcomes of patients with oligometastatic disease treated for cure at our institution we advocate for more intensive surveillance strategies for earlier identification of patients with curative potential to improve overall long-term survival.