The prognostic value of circumferential resection margin involvement in oesophageal malignancy

Aim Our aim was to assess the effect on survival of circumferential resection margin (CRM) involvement in patients with resected oesophageal malignancy. Methods Patients undergoing potentially curative oesophageal resection between January 1994 and December 2003 were retrospectively analysed. CRM status was defined as either clear or involved (microscopic tumour within 1 mm of the inked resection margin). Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazard model. Overall survival was used as the endpoint. Results The case records of 249 patients were analysed. CRM status was clear in 170 patients (T1–T3 tumours) and involved in 79 patients (all T3 tumours). Median survival in these groups was 37 months (range 28–47) and 18 months (range 13–23), respectively (p=0.0001). When T3 tumours were analysed separately there was a trend for T3 CRM involved tumours to have a worse prognosis than T3 CRM clear tumours (p=0.074). Substratification by percentage of lymph nodes involved by metastases (≤ or >25%) revealed that CRM status had a greater prognostic effect in T3 tumours with a low metastatic lymph node burden (p=0.04). Conclusion CRM involvement predicts poor prognosis in patients with resected oesophageal malignancy and was an independent prognostic factor in our study. There was only a trend for worse prognosis when T3 tumours were analysed separately. However, patients with T3 tumours and a low percentage of lymph node metastases had a better prognosis if the CRM was negative.