Predictive factors for failure of neoadjuvant docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil therapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Recently, neoadjuvant chemotherapy comprising docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil showed promising efficacy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However, some patients do not achieve curative resection despite neoadjuvant chemotherapy using these drugs. This study aimed to clarify the pretherapeutic characteristics of these patients. We included 113 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil for potentially resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and compared the clinical characteristics between patients who achieved curative resection (curative group) and those who failed to achieve curative resection after planned neoadjuvant chemotherapy (noncurative group). Moreover, we determined the factors predicting noncurative outcomes. Ninety-one (81%) and 22 patients (19%) were in the curative and noncurative groups, respectively. The noncurative group had significantly more tumors located in the upper third of the esophagus, larger-sized tumors, and borderline resectable tumors than the curative group (P = 0.003, 0.049, and <0.001, respectively). Moreover, the noncurative group had significantly higher serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen concentrations than the curative group (P = 0.008). Multivariable analysis identified tumor location in the upper third of the esophagus (odds ratio 7.31, P = 0.002), tumor size ≥50 mm (odds ratio 4.71, P = 0.037), and borderline resectable tumors (odds ratio 6.65, P = 0.003) as independent predictors for noncurative outcomes. Tumor location in the upper third of the esophagus, larger-sized tumors, and borderline resectable tumors might be significant predictors for noncurative outcomes in patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil.