Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients
| Characteristics | Patients (n = 87) No. (%) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Esophagus-sparing (n = 44) |
Standard (n = 43) |
||
| Sex | 0.066 | ||
| Male | 32 | 38 | |
| Female | 12 | 5 | |
| Age (year), median (range) | 56 (34–76) | 58 (33–77) | 0.476 |
| Clinical stage of primary tumor (7th edition) | 0.577 | ||
| IIIA | 20 | 17 | |
| IIIB | 24 | 26 | |
| N stage | 0.120 | ||
| 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2 | 24 | 24 | |
| 3 | 16 | 19 | |
| Histology | 0.646 | ||
| Adenocarcinoma | 22 | 19 | |
| Squamous cell carcinoma | 20 | 20 | |
| Other | 2 | 4 | |
| RT dose (Gy), median (range) | 63.8 (60–66) | 65 (63–67.6) | 0.068 |
| BED (Gy), median (range) | 81 (74–85) | 81 (78–85) | 0.064 |
| GTV volume (cm3), median (range) | 83.7 (25.1–275.3) | 88.2 (22.3–281.4) | 0.472 |
| Minimum distance between GTV and esophagus (mm) | 7 (0–32) | 6 (0–29) | 0.621 |
| Concurrent chemotherapy | 0.422 | ||
| Nedaplatin or cisplatin + Paclitaxel/docetaxel | 35 | 37 | |
| Nedaplatin or cisplatin + Pemetrexed | 9 | 6 | |
| Radiation esophagitis | 0.002 | ||
| G0–2 | 42 | 30 | |
| G3 | 2 | 13 | |
| SGA (before CCRT) | 0.670 | ||
| A | 41 | 39 | |
| B | 3 | 4 | |
| SGA (after CCRT) | 0.045 | ||
| A | 36 | 25 | |
| B | 8 | 17 | |
| C | 0 | 1 | |
| Hearth V30 (%) | 20.70 | 18.20 | 0.665 |
| Dose to the esophagus | |||
| Dmax (Gy) | 64.67 | 70.03 | 0.002 |
| Dmean (Gy) | 26.25 | 36.77 | 0.000 |
| V45 (%) | 33.76 | 54.51 | 0.000 |
| V50 (%) | 20.75 | 48.41 | 0.000 |
| V55 (%) | 11.25 | 37.41 | 0.000 |
| V60 (%) | 6.12 | 21.64 | 0.000 |
Abbreviations: RT Radiotherapy, BED Biological effective dose, SGA Subjective Global Assessment, CCRT Concurrent chemoradiotherapy, Dmax max dose, Dmean Mean dose, Vx Volume of esophagus receiving x Gy