. 2020 Dec 27;13(1):51. doi: 10.3390/cancers13010051

Table 2.

Overview of clinical trials of adjuvant therapy for ESCC in Western countries.

Authors	Year	Stage Enrollment ^†	Phase	Group	n	Primary Endpoint	p Value	Summary
Pouliquen [15]	1987–1992	II–IV	III	Surgery alone	68	OS *: 14	N.S.	CF followed by surgery is not useful.
	1987–1992			Preoperative CT (CF)	52	OS *: 13		CF followed by surgery is not useful.
Ancona [16]	1992–1997	II/III	III	Surgery alone	47	5-year OS: 22%	N.S.	OS was improved only in the patients with pCR.
	1992–1997			Surgery + postoperative CT (CF)	47	5-year OS: 34%		OS was improved only in the patients with pCR.
Kelsen [17]	1990–1995	I/II/III	III	Surgery + postoperative CT (CF)	100	OS *: 16.1	N.S.	Preoperative chemotherapy with CF did not improve OS.
(RTOG trial)	1990–1995	(AC: 53%)		Surgery + pre and postoperative CT (CF)	105	OS *: 14.9		Preoperative chemotherapy with CF did not improve OS.
Working group ^‡ [19]	1992–1998	I/II/III	III	Surgery alone	402	OS *: 13.3	<0.01	Preoperative CT improved survival.
(MRC trial)	1992–1998	(AC: 67%)		Surgery + preoperative CT (CF)	400	OS *: 16.8		Preoperative CT improved survival.
Shapiro [21]	2000–2004	I/II/III	III	Surgery alone	188	OS *: 81.6	<0.01	Preoperative CRT was effective.
	2000–2004	(AC: 75%)		Preoperative CRT	180	OS *: 21.1		Preoperative CRT was effective.
Sjoquist [22]			meta-analysis	Surgery alone	952	OS		Strong evidence for a benefit of preoperative CRT.
			meta-analysis	Preoperative CRT	980	HR: 0.78 (0.70–0.88) §		Strong evidence for a benefit of preoperative CRT.
				Preoperative CT	1141	OS		Advantage of preoperative CRT was unclear.
				Preoperative CRT	1079	HR: 0.88 (0.76–1.01) §		Advantage of preoperative CRT was unclear.
Klevebro [25]	2006–2013	I/II/III	III	Preoperative CT	91	pCR rate: 9%	<0.01	Preoperative CRT had higher pCR rate.
	2006–2013	(AC: 72%)		Preoperative CRT	90	pCR rate: 28%		Preoperative CRT had higher pCR rate.

ESCC, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; CT, chemotherapy; CF, cisplatin plus 5-FU; OS, overall survival; N.S., not significant; pCR, pathological complete response; AC, adenocarcinoma; CRT, chemoradiotherapy; ^† UICC at the time; * median, month; ^‡ Medical Research Council Oesophageal Cancer Working Party; § 95% confidence interval.