Objective  To evaluate the effect of postoperative adjuvant therapy on patients with locally advanced pathologic T3N0M0 (pT3N0M0) esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

  Methods  In this retrospective study, we evaluated patients who underwent esophagectomy at Lanzhou University Second Hospital. Patients were divided into 4 groups: surgery-alone (S), surgery + radiotherapy group (S+RT), surgery + chemotherapy (S+CT), and surgery + chemoradiotherapy (S+CRT) groups. Both the clinicopathologic information and the long-term follow-up results were analyzed.

  Results  From January 2010 to April 2014, a total of 177 patients with a median age of 61 years (range 43-78), were enrolled into the study. Among them, 79 received surgery alone; the remaining 98 patients received adjuvant therapy, of whom 28 patients received adjuvant radiotherapy, 38 received adjuvant chemotherapy, and 32 received adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Overall survival and disease-free survival were better in Group S+Adjuvant than in Group S (P=0.012, P= 0.007, respectively). Comparisons among the four groups showed that the overall survival was higher in Group S+CRT than in Group S (P=0.031). Group S+RT was associated with better overall survival and disease-free survival than Group S (P=0.038, P=0.011, respectively).

  Conclusions  Patients with pT3N0M0 ESCC could benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy, as radiotherapy could help achieve better locoregional control.