Learning curve in relation to health-related quality of life in long-term, disease free survivors after McKeown minimally invasive esophagectomy

Background The potential impact of learning curve on long-term health-related quality of life (QoL) after esophagectomy for cancer has not been investigated. The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between learning curve for McKeown minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) and health-related quality of life (QoL) in long-term, disease free survivors up to 10 years after esophageal cancer resection. Methods Esophageal cancer patients who underwent McKeown MIE between 2009 and 2019 were identified in which 280 who were free of disease at the time of survey and completed health-related QoL and symptom questionnaires, including EORTC QLQ-C30, EORTC QLQ-OES18, and Digestive Symptom Questionnaire. Patients were assessed in 3 cohorts according to the learning phases of expertise reported by our previous study: initial phase; plateau phase, and; experienced phase. Results Median time from operation to survey was 5.8 years (interquartile range 4.6–8.2). The QLQ-C30 mean scores of functional scales, and symptom scales of respiratory and digestive systems including dyspnea ( P = 0.006), shortness of breath ( P = 0.003), and dysphagia ( P = 0.031) were significantly better in experienced phase group. Furthermore, in the subgroup analyses for patients without postoperative major complications, patients in the initial learning phase remained suffering from more symptoms of dyspnea ( P = 0.040) and shortness of breath ( P = 0.001). Conclusion Esophageal cancer patients undergoing McKeown MIE in initial learning phase tend to suffer from a deterioration in long-term health-related QoL and higher symptomatic burden as compared to experienced learning phase, which did not improved over time and warranted more attention.