Table 5.

Characteristics of patients who underwent esophageal resection by hospital volume in the 2000–2004 time period

Characteristics	LVHs		HVHs		P value
	No. of patients	%	No. of patients	%
Age (years)					0.24
Median	64		63
Range	33–86		43–80
Gender					0.53
Male	80	72.1	79	76.7
Female	31	27.9	24	23.3
Comorbidity					0.001a,*
No	56	50.5	27	26.2
1 organ system	35	31.5	50	48.5
2 organ systems	18	16.2	23	22.3
≥3 organ systems	1	0.9	3	2.9
Unknown	1	0.9	–	–
Histology					0.98a,b
Adenocarc.	73	65.8	71	68.9
Squamous	27	24.3	25	24.3
Barrett’s dysplasia	3	2.7	3	2.9
Other	2	1.8	3	2.9
Unknown	6	5.4	1	1.0
Tumor localization					0.61a,c
Cervical esoph.	2	1.8	2	1.9
Mid esoph.	18	16.2	14	13.6
Distal esoph./GE junction	90	81.1	87	84.5
Unknown	1	0.9	–	–
Stage (pTNM)					0.90a
0	3	2.7	3	2.9
I	15	13.5	16	15.5
II	43	38.7	39	37.9
III	39	35.1	35	34.0
IV	6	5.4	9	8.7
Unknown	5	4.5	1	1.0
Neoadjuvant treatment					0.27a,d
No	90	81.1	70	68.0
Chemo ± radiotherapy	21	18.9	33	32.0
Surgical approach					<0.001a,e
Abdomino-cervical	66	59.5	90	87.4
Thoraco-abdominal	10	9.0	1	1.0
Abd-thor-cervical	17	15.3	10	9.7
Abdominal	14	12.6	1	1.0
Unknown	4	3.6	1	1.0
Anastomoses					<0.001f
Cervical	86	77.5	101	98.1
Thoracic	12	10.8	–	–
Abdominal	13	11.7	2	1.9
Total no. of patients	111		103

LVHs low-volume hospitals (<10 resections/year), HVHs high-volume hospitals (≥10 resections/year), GE gastro-esophageal

^a“Unknown” category excluded

^bAdenocarcinoma/Barrett’s dysplasia versus squamous and others

^cDistal esophagus/GE junction versus cervical/mid esophagus

^dNo neoadjuvant therapy versus others

^eAbdomino-cervical versus others

^fCervical anastomoses versus others