ArticleDiseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus2026
Treatment strategies of esophageal cancer with concurrent cervical node metastasis: a Dutch nationwide population-based cohort study.
Article in Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cervical lymph node metastases in thoracic esophageal cancer: a systematic review.Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cervical lymph node metastasis in thoracic esophageal cancer occupies a conceptual border zone between locoregional and distant disease. Evidence guiding treatment selection in this population remains limited in Western cohorts. The objective was to evaluate treatment strategies and overall survival outcomes for patients with resectable esophageal cancer and concurrent cervical lymph node metastasis in the Netherlands. This population-based cohort study used the Netherlands Cancer Registry to identify patients with resectable thoracic esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer and concurrent cervical lymph node metastasis. Treatment strategies included definitive chemoradiotherapy, neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery, chemotherapy with or without limited radiotherapy (≤30 Gy), palliative radiotherapy, and best supportive care. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression adjusted with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) were used to assess overall survival and treatment effects. Between 2015 and 2021, 412 eligible patients were identified. Median overall survival was 24 months for patients treated with neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery, 18 months for definitive chemoradiotherapy, 15 months for chemotherapy, 7 months for radiotherapy alone, and 3 months for best supportive care. In multivariable analysis, neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery was associated with longer survival compared with definitive chemoradiotherapy (HR 0.56 [0.34-0.91]). Similar estimates were observed after IPTW. Higher cN stage and poorer performance status were independently associated with worse survival. Subgroup analysis of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy versus chemotherapy within the surgical cohort showed no significant survival difference. In this nationwide cohort, management of thoracic esophageal cancer with concurrent cervical lymph node metastasis was highly heterogeneous. Although neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery was associated with longer survival, interpretation is limited by baseline differences and potential residual confounding. These findings suggest that surgery may be considered within a multimodality strategy in carefully selected patients and warrant prospective evaluation to better define its role.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.