Cyclooxygenase-2 expression after preoperative chemoradiotherapy correlates with more frequent esophageal cancer recurrence

Table 1 Patient characteristics

Characteristics		n
Sex (M/F)		40 (31/9)
Mean age (yr)		60
Location of tumor	Cervical	2
	Upper thoracic	5
	Middle thoracic	22
	Lower thoracic	11
T-classification	T3	18
	T4	22
N-classification	N0	23
	N1	17
M-classification	M0	34
	M1	6
UICC TNM stage	IIa	15
	III	16
	IVa	5
	IVb	4

UICC: International Union Against Cancer.

Table 2 Univariate analysis of prognostic factors for overall survival and COX-2 expression

		n	P	P
Covariate			for OS	for COX-2
Age (yr)	< 70	34	NS	NS
	≥ 70	6
Gender	Male	31	NS	NS
	Female	9
Effect of CRT	Effective	32	0.0019b	NS
	Ineffective	8
Lymph node metastasis	Positive	17	0.012a	0.0095b
	Negative	23
Distant metastasis	Positive	6	0.00026b	0.0277a
	Negative	34
Depth of tumor invasion	T3	18	0.0401a	NS
	T4	22
Tumor location1	Upper	7	NS	NS
	Lower	33
COX-2 expression	Positive	17	NS	-
	Negative	23
VEGF expression	Positive	13	NS	-
	Negative	27

¹Upper or lower: Above or below the tracheal bifurcation. NS: Not significant.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01, comparison between two corresponding groups.