Comparison of Pathologic Response and Survival Outcomes between Neoadjuvant Immunochemotherapy (nICT) and Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in Patients with Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis

The neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (nICT) is a novel treatment, which is likely to be safer for locally advanced, surgically resectable Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) that comparing with the traditional neoadjuvant therapy. However, the efficacy of nICT was controversial and the survival benefit remain unknown.This study included 313 patients with locally advanced ESCC who underwent surgery following neoadjuvant therapy at Sichuan Cancer Hospital from June 2017 and September 2021. The patients were divided into nICT group and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) group according to the neoadjuvant strategy. A 1:2 propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance potential bias across several covariates between two groups with a caliper 0.05.Among the 146 patients after PSM, the baseline factors were comparable between two groups. Compared with the nCRT group, the nICT group shown a lower pathologic complete response(pCR) rate (11.54% vs 35.11%; P = 0.0039) and lymph nodes uninvolved rate (ypN0: 44.23% vs 62.77%; P = 0.0154), but a higher perineural invasion (32.69% vs 12.77%; P = 0.0075) and angioinvasion rate (40.38% vs 10.64%; P = 0.0001). However, the 2-year OS and DFS rates were similar between the nICT group and the nCRT group in overall study cohort, and these data were confirmed in the matched samples (2-year OS, 78.2% vs 77.2% [p = 0.95]; DFS, 56.9% vs 58.0% [p = 0.69]).Our preliminary findings indicate that, for individuals with locally advanced ESCC, nICT followed by surgery appears to be less effective in pathologic outcomes, while having a comparable survival rate to nRCT. These results imply a complicated and possibly multifaceted link between the kind of neoadjuvant therapy, the pathologic outcomes, and the final survival.