Abstract
BACKGROUND: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is the standard treatment for nonsurgical esophageal cancer (EC). However, esophageal cancer patients receiving CCRT alone are still unsatisfactory in terms of local control and overall survival (OS) benefit. Clinicians generally add consolidation chemotherapy (CCT) after CCRT. It remains controversial whether CCT following CCRT is beneficial for esophageal cancer. We, therefore, undertook a meta-analysis to assess the need for CCT in inoperable esophageal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We combed PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CNKI for relevant published articles up to July 2020 that compared CCRT plus CCT to CCRT alone for patients with nonsurgical EC. Our primary endpoint was OS and progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoint was treatment toxicity. We analyzed the hazard ratio (HR) to estimate the time-to-event data and the odds ratio (OR) to compare the treatment-related effect. To assess heterogeneity, we performed the I(2) test and examined publication bias using funnel plots analysis. RESULTS: The 11 retrospective studies involved 2008 patients. Of these 2008 patients, 1018 received CCRT plus CCT, and 990 received CCRT. Compared to CCRT alone, CCT after CCRT did not improve disease control rate (DCR) (OR 1.66; 95% CI 0.53-5.15, p=0.384) and objective response rate (ORR) (OR 1.44; 95% CI 0.62-3.35, p=0.393). However, OS (HR 0.72; 95% CI 0.59-0.86, p < 0.001) and PFS (HR 0.61; 95% CI 0.44-0.84, p=0.003) did increase. Our results show that CCT plus CCRT had a clear survival advantage over CCRT alone. The risk of treatment toxicity did not increase for EC patients who received CCT. CONCLUSION: CCT after CCRT significantly increases OS and PFS in patients with nonsurgical EC and could provide them remarkable survival benefits. The results provide an evidence-based framework for the use of CCT after CCRT.