The influence of adjuvant radiation therapy after endoscopic resection on survival for early stage EC: an analysis of the surveillance epidemiology and end results (SEER) database

Esophageal cancer (EC) incidence rates are rising each year, but treatment outcomes are still very poor (1). Due to increased awareness and progress in surveillance, many EC cases are being diagnosed in early stage. However, early stage EC is highly heterogeneous and has low representativeness, so very few phase III trials have investigated this population. Several treatment options are available for these patients including esophagectomy, radiation therapy (RT), chemotherapy, and endoscopic resection (ER) (2,3), but the optimum treatment strategies still remain unclear (4)