Prognostic analysis of forty seven patients with primary esophageal small cell carcinoma.

Objective:To summarize and discuss the therapy and prognosis of limited-stage primary esophageal small cell carcinoma. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed which was based on the clinical records of 47 inpatients with primary esophageal small cell carcinoma. All the patients underwent surgery from May, 1989 to March 2006 in our hospital. Results: All the patients underwent surgery and additionally thirty-six of forty-seven patients received combined chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy after surgery. The overall median survival time for the whole group was 10.3 months (range: 3-61 months). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 42.2%, 12.1% and 4.6%, respectively. The median survival time of the patients who only received surgery was 8.2 months. The prognosis of the patients who received postoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy was better than those who received only surgery(P=0.000 and P=0.038). The difference was not significant in survival rate between single surgery group and postoperative radiotherapy group(P=0.081). Multivariate analysis indicated that clinical staging was the independent prognostic factor (P=0.003). Conclusion: Surgery combined with chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy is a main therapeutic method for limited-stage primary esophageal small cell carcinoma. It is helpful to extend the survival time of patients.