Table 1.
Details of the patients before and after PET/CT introduction
| Pre-PET/CT | Post-PET/CT | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number (%) | 273 (55.0) | 223 (45.0) | |
| Median age years (range) | 61 (31–80) | 64 (36–77) | 0.036§ |
| < 50 | 38 (13.9) | 23 (10.3) | |
| 50–59 | 80 (29.3) | 51 (22.9) | |
| 60–69 | 100 (36.6) | 97 (43.5) | |
| > 70 | 55 (20.2) | 52 (23.3) | |
| Gender | 0.323† | ||
| Male | 213 (78.0) | 182 (81.6) | |
| Female | 60 (22.0) | 41 (18.4) | |
| Tumor type | 0.011† | ||
| Adenocarcinoma | 224 (82.1) | 201 (90.1) | |
| SCC | 49 (17.9) | 22 (9.9) | |
| Oncological therapy | |||
| Neoadjuvant – all types | 176 (66.4) | 149 (66.8) | 0.584† |
| Neoadjuvant chemoRx | 126 (71.5) | 109 (73.1) | 0.493† |
| Neoadjuvant CRTx | 50 (28.4) | 40 (26.8) | 0.914† |
| Surgery alone | 97 (35.6) | 74 (33.2) | 0.584† |
| Operation type | < 0.0001† | ||
| TTO | 150 (54.9) | 83 (37.2) | |
| THO | 93 (34.1) | 107 (50.0) | |
| 3 Stage | 0 (0) | 6 (2.7) | |
| Open and close | 30 (11.0) | 27 (12.1) | |
| Pathological T stage | 0.012† | ||
| HGD/CPR | 16 (5.8) | 17 (7.6) | |
| T1 | 33 (12.1) | 48 (21.5) | |
| T2 | 31 (11.4) | 24 (10.8) | |
| T3 | 141 (51.6) | 101 (45.3) | |
| T4 | 22 (8.1) | 6 (2.7) | |
| Open and close | 30 (11.0) | 27 (12.1) | |
| Pathological N stage | 0.381† | ||
| N0 | 112 (41.0) | 103 (46.2) | |
| N1 | 67 (24.5) | 48 (21.5) | |
| N2 | 38 (13.9) | 33 (14.8) | |
| N3 | 26 (9.5) | 12 (5.4) | |
| Open and close | 30 (11.0) | 27 (12.1) | |
| Pathological Stage (TNM 7) | 0.069† | ||
| CPR | 15 (5.0) | 13 (5.8) | |
| Stage I | 48 (17.6) | 56 (25.1) | |
| Stage II | 60 (22.0) | 48 (19.7) | |
| Stage III | 20 (44.0) | 75 (33.6) | |
| Stage IV | 0 (0) | 2 (0.8) | |
| R1 resection | 83 (30.4) | 83 (37.2) | 0.198† |
| Operative mortality | 11 (4.0) | 6 (2.7) | 0.415† |
ACA adenocarcinoma, SCC squamous cell carcinoma, neoadjuvant therapy –all types, chemotherapy/chemo radiotherapy; neoadjuvant chemoRx, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, neoadjuvant CRTx, neoadjuvant chemo radiotherapy, THO trans hiatal esophagectomy, TTO transthoracic esophagectomy; 3 stage 3-stage esophagectomy; HGD/CPR high-grade dysplasia/complete pathological response, R1 positive resection margin, § Mann–Whitney U test; † Chi-squared test