Impact of tumour histological subtype on chemotherapy outcome in advanced oesophageal cancer

Table 1 Patient characteristics n (%)

	Adeno	SCC	Total
No. of patients	841	132	973
Median age (range)	62 (22-84)	60 (37-77)	61 (22-84)
Gender
Male	730 (87)	95 (72)	825 (85)
Female	111 (13)	37 (28)	148 (15)
Performance status1
0	223 (27)	33 (25)	256 (26)
1	489 (58)	75 (57)	564 (58)
2	127 (15)	23 (18)	150 (15)
Sub-site
Oesophagus	438 (52)	117 (89)	555 (57)
OGJ	403 (48)	15 (11)	418 (43)
Extent of disease2
Locally advanced	219 (26)	36 (27)	255 (26)
Metastatic	622 (74)	95 (72)	717 (74)
Location of metastases
Liver	340 (46)	46 (35)	386 (40)
Peritoneum	41 (5)	4 (3)	45 (4.5)
Lung	136 (16)	18 (14)	154 (16)

¹PS unknown or 3 in < 1% of all patients;

²Data was unavailable for one patient in the SCC group. SCC: Squamous cell carcinoma; OGJ: Oesophagogastric junction.

Table 2 Multivariate analyses of overall survival

Factors		Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
		HR	95%CI	P value	HR	95%CI	P value
Overall survival
Histological arm	Adenocarcinoma (r)	1.000
	SCC	1.196	0.972-1.471	0.089
Sex	Female (r)	1.000
	Male	0.983	0.807-1.196	0.983
Subsite	Oesophagus (r)	1.000
	OGJ	0.988	0.853-1.145	0.876
Liver mets	No (r)	1.000			1.000
	Yes	1.671	1.433-1.948	< 0.001	1.581	1.341-1.863	< 0.001
Peritoneal mets	No (r)	1.000			1.000
	Yes	2.290	1.583-3.314	< 0.01	2.190	1.503-3.191	< 0.001
ALP	< 100 U/I (r)	1.000			1.000
	≥ 100 U/I	1.608	1.357-1.908	< 0.001	1.287	1.072-1.544	0.007
Performance score	0-1 (r)	1.000			1.000
	2-3	2.140	1.754-2.611	< 0.001	1.703	1.374-2.110	< 0.001
Treatment arm	EOX (r)	1.000
	EOF	1.122	0.848-1.484	0.420
	ECX	1.139	0.862-1.505	0.361
	ECF	1.175	0.916-1.506	0.204
	MCF	1.176	0.870-1.589	0.291
	PVI 5FU + MMC	2.107	1.461-3.040	< 0.001
	PVI 5FU	2.132	1.481-3.067	< 0.001
	Overall			< 0.001
Study	Trial 3[10] (r)	1.000			1.000
	Trial 1[15]	0.993	0.804-1.228	0.951	1.034	0.830-1.288	0.763
	Trial 2[16]	1.850	1.432-2.390	< 0.001	1.736	1.326-2.271	< 0.001
	Overall			< 0.001			< 0.001

All variables with a P-value of less than 0.2 in univariate analyses were entered into a multivariate model in a forward stepwise manner. r: Reference; mets: Metastases; SCC: Squamous cell carcinoma; OGJ: Oesophagogastric junction; PVI: Protracted venous infusion; MMC: Mitomycin C.

Table 3 Objective response rates and toxicity composite endpoint n (%)

	Adeno	SCC
No. of patients	841	132
Complete response	48 (6)	7 (5)
Partial response	323 (38)	36 (27)
Stable disease	224 (30)	35 (27)
Progressive disease	157 (19)	38 (29)
Objective response rate (95%CI)	371 (44) 41%-48%	43 (33) 25%-41% P = 0.01
Toxicity composite endpoint (95%CI)	381 (45) 42%-49%	58 (44) 35%-53% P = 0.77

SCC: Squamous cell carcinoma.