Background: Limited locally recurrent esophageal carcinoma is rare, and little is known regarding effectiveness of re-resection.
Methods: Medical records of 27 consecutive patients with locally recurrent esophageal carcinoma who underwent reoperation at our institution between February 1974 and January 2003 were analyzed.
Results: The original and recurrent cancer cell types were identical in all patients. Median disease-free interval was 19.4 months (range, 2.5 to 170 months). Recurrence was at the anastomosis in 23 patients (85%), esophageal remnant in 3 (11%), and stomach in 1 (4%). Ten patients had completion gastrectomy and partial esophagectomy, and 9 had resection of the anastomosis. The remaining 8 patients were found intraoperatively to have unresectable disease and underwent biopsy only. Re-resection was complete in 15 of the 19 patients resected (79%). Four patients had microscopic cancer at the resection margins. Reconstruction was with colon in 10 patients and esophagogastrostomy in 9. There were 2 deaths (operative mortality, 7%). Complications occurred in 16 patients (59%). Arrhythmia and anastomotic leak were the most common complications and each occurred in 7 patients (26%). Factors favorably associated with survival were disease-free interval greater than 2 years (p < or = 0.05) and complete re-resection (p < or = 0.02). Two-, three-, and five-year survival for patients completely re-resected was 62%, 44%, and 35%, respectively. Survival for patients who had incomplete re-resections was 18% at 2 years and zero at 3 years.
Conclusions: Re-resection of locally recurrent esophageal carcinoma is associated with considerable morbidity. However, long-term survival is possible in patients with a long disease-free interval or a complete re-resection.