BACKGROUND: Given the survival advantage of neoadjuvant treatment for locally advanced esophageal cancer, accurate clinical staging is necessary. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical (c) and pathologic (p) staging concordance rates for presumably early stage esophageal adenocarcinoma patients that had upfront esophagectomy (UFE) and evaluate if survival (OS) was negatively affected by inaccurate preoperative staging and subsequent treatment selection.

METHODS: An NCDB retrospective review of nonmetastatic esophageal adenocarcinoma patients that had UFE. The rates of concordance between c and p staging system and OS were calculated.

RESULTS: Of 2775 patients, most patients presented with cN0 (82.8%) and cT1 tumors (53.6%). The overall concordance between c and p staging was 78.8% for T-classification (moderate agreement; weighted κ = 0.729; P < .001) and 78.8% for N-classification (weak agreement; weighted κ = 0.448; P < .001). Patients that were upstaged due to a lack of concordance between T-classification had decreased 5- and 10-year OS (30% and 16%, P < .001) and those upstaged due to discordant N-classification had decreased 5- and 10-year OS (28% and 23%, P < .001)."

CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative staging of esophageal adenocarcinoma has moderate reliability and accuracy for predicting pT and pN classification. Up to 25% of patients have discordant clinical and pathological staging, which impacts OS.