To analyze the long-term survival rates and influencing factors of surgical treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

All patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent surgical treatment at Shanghai Chest Hospital from 2012 to 2014 were reviewed. 864 patients undergoing transthoracic surgery were selected as the study subjects. Their general conditions, surgical approaches, postoperative complications, and long-term survival outcomes were analyzed.

Of all the patients, 84.7% were men, and 44.9% and 30.4% were cII and cIII patients, respectively. Neoadjuvant therapy was used in 8.3% of patients. The right thoracic approach was used in 88.7% of patients. The proportion of minimally invasive surgery was 23.6%. The overall complication rate was 41.8%, and the 90-day mortality rate was 3.1%. The recurrence rate was 38.1%. The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival rates were 85.5%, 61.2%, and 49.3%, respectively. Minimally invasive surgery improved long-term survival (MIE vs OPEN 66.5% vs 44.0%, P<0.001). Adjuvant therapy was shown to improve overall survival in both lymph node positive and negative T3N0 patients (33.3% vs 31.5%, P=0.001; 66.0% vs 49.5%, P=0.004).

Surgical resection combined with postoperative adjuvant therapy can achieve satisfactory long-term survival of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The role of neoadjuvant therapy requires further study.