Comparison of 6th and 7th Editions of AJCC/UICC TNM Staging for Esophageal Cancer Patients Received Radiotherapy

Objective To evaluate the reasonability of the 6th and 7th editions of American Joint Committee on Cancer/Union for International Cancer Control(AJCC/UICC) tumor node metastasis(TNM) staging for esophageal carcinoma in radiotherapy and their effect on prognosis. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 265 esophageal carcinoma patients received radiotherapy. In accordance with different definition about location segment in the 6th and 7th edition of AJCC/UICC TNM staging for esophageal carcinoma, we analyzed and evaluated the prognosis by univariate and multivariate survival analysis. Results According to the 7thedition of AJCC/UICC TNM staging for esophageal carcinoma, the number of esophagus primary lesions in cervical, upper, middle and inferior thoracic portion were 46, 76, 83 and 60, respectively, according to the 6thedition, the number were 16, 83, 132 and 34, respectively. All patients were divided into two groups according to the two methods, the consistent group(169 cases) and the difference group(96 case