Table 1.

Patient and treatment characteristics of very elderly esophageal cancer (EC)

Characteristics	No. of patients (%)	NRI before RT		P	NLR before RT		P
		<100	≥100		<2.5	≥2.5
Age (years) (median, range)	79 (75–91)
<80	82 (55.0%)	31	51	0.078	48	34	0.684
≥80	67 (45.0%)	35	32		37	30
Sex
Male	97 (65.1%)	42	55	0.913	52	45	0.065
Female	52 (34.9%)	23	29		36	16
Comorbidities
No	86 (57.7%)	39	47	0.620	46	40	0.156
Yes	63 (42.3%)	26	37		41	22
ECOG performance status
0–1	142 (95.3%)	65	78	0.252	82	60	0.463
2–3	7 (4.7%)	5	2		3	4
Primary tumor location
Upper–middle	86 (57.7%)	38	48	0.872	51	35	0.792
Middle–lower	63 (42.3%)	27	36		36	27
Primary tumor length (cm)
<6	63 (42.3%)	28	35	0.696	38	25	0.614
≥6	86 (57.7%)	41	45		49	37
AJCC stage
I–II	64 (43.0%)	25	39	0.405	41	23	0.223
III	85 (57.0%)	39	46		46	39
T stage
1–2	18 (12.1%)	7	11	0.908	13	5	0.591
3–4	131 (87.9%)	52	77		75	56
N status
Negative	93 (62.4%)	41	52	0.781	55	40	0.782
Positive	56 (37.6%)	26	30		30	24
Range of CTV
IFI	124 (83.2%)	55	69	0.738	72	52	0.849
ENI	25 (16.8%)	12	13		14	11
Fraction dose (Gy)
<2	32 (21.5%)	18	14	0.203	23	9	0.096
≥2	117 (78.5%)	51	66		65	52
Total dose for PGTV (Gy)
<60	26 (17.4%)	14	12	0.355	17	9	0.470
≥60	123 (82.6%)	54	69		71	52
Total dose for PTV (Gy)
≤50	32 (21.5%)	15	17	0.874	18	14	0.918
>50	117 (78.5%)	53	64		67	50
Chemotherapy
No	85 (57.0%)	39	46	0.796	47	38	0.618
Yes	64 (43.0%)	28	36		38	26

AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer; ECOG, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; ENI, elective nodal irradiation; IFI, involved field irradiation; NRI, nutritional risk index; NLR, neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio; PGTV, planning gross tumor volume; PTV: planning target volume; RT, radiotherapy.