Optimal postoperative surveillance strategy in patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery for esophageal carcinoma

Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) followed by esophagectomy is a well-established standard of care for patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma (EC) (1). Although trimodal therapy provides significantly better survival outcomes than surgery alone, the long-term outcomes of patients with locally advanced EC remain unsatisfactory with 5-year overall survival rates ranging from 25% to 47% (2,3).