Exploration of lymph node recurrence patterns and delineation guidelines of radiation field in middle thoracic oesophageal carcinomas after radical surgery: a real-world study

Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most commonly diagnosed carcinomas in China, and postoperative radiotherapy plays an important role in improving the prognosis of patients. Carcinomas in different locations of the oesophagus could have different patterns of lymph node metastasis after surgery. In this multicentric retrospective study, we enrolled patients with middle thoracic oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas from 3 cancer centres, and none of the patients underwent radiotherapy before or after surgery. We analysed the lymph node recurrence rates in different stations to explore the postoperative lymphatic recurrence pattern. From January 1st, 2014, to December 31st, 2019, 132 patients met the criteria, and were included in this study. The lymphatic recurrence rate was 62.1