Patterns of Recurrence After Esophageal Cancer Surgery

Half of esophageal cancer patients face recurrence after surgery, with significant implications for patient management.

Of 1,310 patients with recurrence, 37.3% had it at multiple distant sites, while 14.4% experienced isolated local recurrence.
Liver-only recurrence was detected significantly earlier (median 9 months) and had the poorest survival (7.4 months post-recurrence).

Surgeons should tailor postoperative surveillance based on recurrence patterns to optimize patient outcomes.

Lung-only and local-only recurrences had better survival rates of 10.4 and 15.9 months, respectively.

Journal Article by Goense L, Elliott JA (…) Reynolds JV et 10 al. in Ann Surg Oncol

read the whole article in Ann Surg Oncol

open it in PubMed

Summaries are written to help you decide what to read. They do not replace the full paper.

Free · 5 minutes a day

Get every new paper in Upper Gastrointestinal Tract.

Plus the Daily Selection: the five most relevant papers of the day, each cut to its key points.

The latest stitches

Ann Surg Oncol2 Nov 2026

High symptom burden after oesophagectomy

On postoperative day 3, about one in five patients had high symptom burden, and the symptoms most linked to others differed between patient groups.

Surg Endosc30 Oct 2026

Enhanced recovery after gastrointestinal lesion resection

An enhanced-recovery pathway after endoscopic removal of small upper gastrointestinal lesions shortened hospital stays without increasing complications.

J Gastrointest Cancer23 Oct 2026

Uniportal esophagectomy linked to fewer pneumonias

In nine comparative studies of minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophageal cancer, uniportal VATS was associated with less pneumonia and a shorter stay than multiportal VATS—but the evidence is not strong enough to establish a preferred approach.

All papers in Upper Gastrointestinal Tract →