OBJECTIVETo investigate the local control of radiotherapy following Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy in the patients with stage IIA middle-third thoracic esophageal cancer.

METHODSFrom June 1999 to June 2002, 125 patients with stage IIA squamous cell carcinoma of the middle-third thoracic esophagus were treated with Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy with two-fields lymphadenectomy. The survival rate was calculated by Kaplan-meier method and the difference of recurrence rate compared by chi(2) test.

RESULTSThe 3-year and 5-year survival rates were 58.4% and 43.2% in this group, respectively. Tumor recurrence occurred in 61 of the 125 patients (48.8%) within 3 years after operation. Of all cases of recurrence, 38 patients (30.4%) developed locoregional recurrence (including 5 patients with locoregional and hematogenous recurrence simultaneously). The locoregional recurrence rate of patients who received postoperative radiotherapy (20.3%) was significantly lower than that of both the group who received adjunctive chemotherapy (40.6%) and the group without adjunctive therapy (41.4%) (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSAbout half of the patients would develop recurrence disease within 3 years after Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy with two-fields lymph-adenectomy. Radiotherapy following Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy is an effective strategy to control local recurrence of the stage II A middle-third thoracic esophageal cancer.