Table 1. Characteristics of the included studies.
| Author (year) | Country | Study design | Sample size | Study period | Initial treatment | TNM | Histological type | Cutoff value | Method to determine cutoff | NOS score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ma et al. (2024) | Japan | Retro+S | 146 | 2008–2018 | Neoadjuvant chemotherapy+surgery+chemoradiotherapy | I+II 104 III+IV 42 | SCC and others | aOS: 2.40 DFS: 4.56 SSI: 12.08 | ROC | 6 | |
| Feng et al. (2024) | China | Retro+S | 318 | 2013–2015 | Surgery+ Chemoradiotherapy | I 110 II 93 III 115 | SCC | 1.7 | ROC | 6 | |
| Meng et al. (2025) | China | Retro+M | 553+104 | 2010–2024 | Neoadjuvant chemotherapy+surgery+radiotherapy | I 98 II 275 III 134 IV 46 | SCC and others | 2.55 | ROC | 7 | |
| Jia et al. (2025) | China | Retro+M | 518 | 2013–2023 | Surgery or other anti-tumor treatment | I 40 II 133 III 146 IV 199 | SCC and others | 2.51 | Maximum rank statistics | 7 | |
| Aoyama et al. (2024) | Japan | Retro+S | 180 | 2005–2020 | Neoadjuvant chemotherapy+surgery (R0 resection) | I B - III | ADC and SCC | 5 | Based on prior reports and 3-/5-year survival rates | 6 | |
| Xu et al. (2025) | China | Retro+S | 209 | 2019–2022 | Surgery (R0 resection) | I 50 II 117 III 42 | SCC | 3.47 | ROC | 6 | |
| Fan et al. (2025) | China | Retro+S | 215 | 2020–2022 | Surgery (R0 resection) | I 118 II 39 III 58 | SCC | 1.97 | ROC | 6 | |
Notes.
- Retro
- Retrospective
- S
- single center
- M
- multicenter
- SCC
- squamous cell carcinoma
- ADC
- adenocarcinoma
- OS
- overall survival
- DFS
- disease-free survival
- SSI
- surgical site infection
- ROC
- receiver operating characteristics
a
The study by Ma et al. (2024) determined distinct optimal CALLY index cut-off values for different clinical endpoints using ROC curve analysis: 2.40 for OS, 4.56 for DFS, and 12.08 for SSI.