Scolaris Content Display Scolaris Content Display

Study flow diagram.
Figuras y tablas -
Figure 1

Study flow diagram.

'Risk of bias' graph: review authors' judgements about each 'Risk of bias' item presented as percentages across all included studies.
Figuras y tablas -
Figure 2

'Risk of bias' graph: review authors' judgements about each 'Risk of bias' item presented as percentages across all included studies.

'Risk of bias' summary: review authors' judgements about each 'Risk of bias' item for each included study.
Figuras y tablas -
Figure 3

'Risk of bias' summary: review authors' judgements about each 'Risk of bias' item for each included study.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 1 Short‐term mortality.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.1

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 1 Short‐term mortality.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 2 Long‐term mortality (binary).
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.2

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 2 Long‐term mortality (binary).

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 3 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event).
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.3

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 3 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event).

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 4 Proportion with a serious adverse event within 3 months.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.4

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 4 Proportion with a serious adverse event within 3 months.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 5 Short‐term health‐related quality of life.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.5

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 5 Short‐term health‐related quality of life.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 6 Medium‐term health‐related quality of life.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.6

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 6 Medium‐term health‐related quality of life.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 7 Long‐term recurrence (binary).
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.7

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 7 Long‐term recurrence (binary).

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 8 Long‐term recurrence (time‐to‐event).
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.8

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 8 Long‐term recurrence (time‐to‐event).

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 9 Local recurrence (binary).
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.9

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 9 Local recurrence (binary).

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 10 Proportion with any adverse event within 3 months.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.10

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 10 Proportion with any adverse event within 3 months.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 11 Length of hospital stay (days).
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.11

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 11 Length of hospital stay (days).

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 12 Dysphagia at maximal follow‐up.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.12

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 12 Dysphagia at maximal follow‐up.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 13 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event): stratified by treatment.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.13

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 13 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event): stratified by treatment.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 14 Long‐term mortality (binary): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.14

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 14 Long‐term mortality (binary): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 15 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy.
Figuras y tablas -
Analysis 1.15

Comparison 1 Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer, Outcome 15 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy.

Summary of findings for the main comparison. Non‐surgical versus surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer (primary outcomes)

Non‐surgical versus surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer

Patient or population: people with oesophageal cancer
Settings: secondary or tertiary care
Intervention: non‐surgical treatment
Comparison: surgical treatment

Outcomes

Illustrative comparative risks* (95% CI)

Relative effect
(95% CI)

Number of participants
(studies)

Quality of the evidence
(GRADE)

Assumed risk

Corresponding risk

Surgical treatment

Non‐surgical treatment

Short‐term mortality
All‐cause mortality either in‐hospital or within 3 months

78 per 10001

30 per 1000
(9 to 105)

RR 0.39
(0.11 to 1.35)

689
(5 studies)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,3

Long‐term mortality (binary outcome)
All‐cause mortality for the duration of follow‐up

691 per 10001

712 per 1000
(636 to 788)

RR 1.03
(0.92 to 1.14)

511
(3 studies)

⊕⊕⊝⊝
low2

Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event outcome): chemoradiotherapy versus surgery
All‐cause mortality for the duration of follow‐up

349 per 10001

314 per 1000
(278 to 357)

HR 0.88
(0.76 to 1.03)

602
(4 studies)

⊕⊕⊝⊝
low2

Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event outcome): radiotherapy versus surgery
All‐cause mortality for the duration of follow‐up

350 per 10001

451 per 1000
(398 to 507)

HR 1.39
(1.18 to 1.64)

512
(3 studies)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,3

Long‐term mortality (binary): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

All‐cause mortality for the duration of follow‐up

740 per 1000

769 per 1000
(688 to 858)

RR 1.04
(0.93 to 1.16)

431
(2 studies)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
low2

Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy

All‐cause mortality for the duration of follow‐up

349 per 1000

346 per 1000
(284 to 418)

HR 0.99
(0.78 to 1.26)

431
(2 studies)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,4

Proportion with a serious adverse event within 3 months
Serious adverse event within 3 months as defined by ICH‐GCP International Conference on Harmonisation ‐ Good Clinical Practice guideline (ICH‐GCP 1996) or reasonable variations thereof

273 per 10001

166 per 1000
(68 to 401)

RR 0.61
(0.25 to 1.47)

80
(1 study)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,4

Short‐term health‐related quality of life
Any validated scale

The mean short‐term health‐related quality of life in the control groups was
7.52

The mean short‐term health‐related quality of life in the intervention groups was
0.93 higher
(0.24 to 1.62 higher)

165
(1 study)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,5

Medium‐term health‐related quality of life
Any validated scale

The mean medium‐term health‐related quality of life in the control groups was
8.76

The mean medium‐term health‐related quality of life in the intervention groups was
0.95 lower
(2.1 lower to 0.2 higher)

62
(1 study)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,5

*The basis for the assumed risk is provided in footnotes. The corresponding risk (and its 95% CI) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI).
CI: confidence interval; RR: risk ratio; HR: hazard ratio.

GRADE Working Group grades of evidence
High quality: further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect.
Moderate quality: further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate.
Low quality: further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate.
Very low quality: we are very uncertain about the estimate.

1The basis for control risk is the event rate across all studies (i.e. the sum of all events in the surgical group across all studies reporting the outcome divided by the sum of all people in the surgical group in the trials reporting the outcome) for all outcomes except long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event) where a control group risk of 0.35 was used (based on similar control group risks at 2 years in a number of trials included in this analysis) and long‐term recurrence (time‐to‐event) where a control group risk of 0.4 was used (based on similar control group risk at 2 year in a trial included for this analysis).
2Downgraded two levels due to significant bias within the trials.
3Downgraded two levels due to inconsistency in the results across the studies.
4Downgraded one level due to wide CIs (overlaps 1 and 0.75 or 1.25).
5Downgraded one level due to wide CIs (overlaps 0 and 0.25 and −0.25).

Figuras y tablas -
Summary of findings for the main comparison. Non‐surgical versus surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer (primary outcomes)
Summary of findings 2. Non‐surgical versus surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer (secondary outcomes)

Non‐surgical versus surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer

Patient or population: people with oesophageal cancer
Settings: secondary or tertiary care
Intervention: non‐surgical treatment
Comparison: surgical treatment

Outcomes

Illustrative comparative risks* (95% CI)

Relative effect
(95% CI)

Number of participants
(studies)

Quality of the evidence
(GRADE)

Comments

Assumed risk

Corresponding risk

Surgical treatment

Non‐surgical treatment

Long‐term recurrence (binary outcome)
Local recurrence, surgical wound recurrence, or distal metastases

526 per 10001

552 per 1000
(458 to 673)

RR 1.05
(0.87 to 1.28)

339
(2 studies)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,3

Long‐term recurrence (time‐to‐event outcome)
Local recurrence, surgical wound recurrence, or distal metastases

508 per 10001

494 per 1000
(433 to 561)

HR 0.96
(0.8 to 1.16)

349
(2 studies)

⊕⊕⊝⊝
low2

Local recurrence (binary)

381 per 1000

339 per 1000
(267 to 427)

RR 0.89
(0.70 to 1.12)

449
(3 studies)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,3,4

Proportion with any adverse event within 3 months
Any adverse event within 3 months of any severity

386 per 10001

668 per 1000
(429 to 1000)

RR 1.73
(1.11 to 2.67)

80
(1 study)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,4

Length of hospital stay (days)
Including the index admission for oesophagectomy (the hospital admission during which the oesophagectomy is performed) and any surgical complication‐related readmissions

See comment

See comment

Not estimable

342
(2 studies)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,5

Significant heterogeneity present (I² statistic = 93%, P = 0.0001) making meta‐analysis inappropriate. The mean hospital stay was 16 days shorter (3 days shorter to 29 days shorter) in non‐surgical treatment than surgical treatment in 1 trial (Bedenne 2007) and 14 days longer (5 days longer to 23 days longer) in non‐surgical treatment than surgical treatment in another trial (Chiu 2005).

Dysphagia at maximal follow‐up

367 per 1000

543 per 1000
(370 to 803)

RR 1.48
(1.01 to 2.19)

139
(1 study)

⊕⊝⊝⊝
very low2,4

*The basis for the assumed risk is provided in footnotes. The corresponding risk (and its 95% CI) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI).
CI: confidence interval; RR: risk ratio; HR: hazard ratio.

GRADE Working Group grades of evidence
High quality: further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect.
Moderate quality: further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate.
Low quality: further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate.
Very low quality: we are very uncertain about the estimate.

1The basis for control risk is the event rate across all studies (i.e. the sum of all events in the surgical group across all studies reporting the outcome divided by the sum of all people in the surgical group in the trials reporting the outcome).
2Downgraded two levels due to significant bias within the trials.
3Downgraded one level due to inconsistency in the results across the studies.
4Downgraded one level due to wide CIs (overlaps 1 and 0.75 or 1.25).
5Downgraded one level due to wide CIs (overlaps 0 and 0.25 and −0.25).

Figuras y tablas -
Summary of findings 2. Non‐surgical versus surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer (secondary outcomes)
Comparison 1. Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer

Outcome or subgroup title

No. of studies

No. of participants

Statistical method

Effect size

1 Short‐term mortality Show forest plot

5

689

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Random, 95% CI)

0.39 [0.11, 1.35]

2 Long‐term mortality (binary) Show forest plot

3

511

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Fixed, 95% CI)

1.03 [0.92, 1.14]

3 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event) Show forest plot

7

1114

Hazard Ratio (Fixed, 95% CI)

1.09 [0.97, 1.22]

4 Proportion with a serious adverse event within 3 months Show forest plot

1

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Fixed, 95% CI)

Totals not selected

5 Short‐term health‐related quality of life Show forest plot

1

Mean Difference (IV, Fixed, 95% CI)

Subtotals only

6 Medium‐term health‐related quality of life Show forest plot

1

Mean Difference (IV, Fixed, 95% CI)

Totals not selected

7 Long‐term recurrence (binary) Show forest plot

2

339

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Fixed, 95% CI)

1.05 [0.87, 1.28]

8 Long‐term recurrence (time‐to‐event) Show forest plot

2

349

Hazard Ratio (Fixed, 95% CI)

0.96 [0.80, 1.16]

9 Local recurrence (binary) Show forest plot

3

449

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Fixed, 95% CI)

0.89 [0.70, 1.12]

10 Proportion with any adverse event within 3 months Show forest plot

1

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Fixed, 95% CI)

Totals not selected

11 Length of hospital stay (days) Show forest plot

2

Mean Difference (IV, Fixed, 95% CI)

Subtotals only

12 Dysphagia at maximal follow‐up Show forest plot

1

139

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Fixed, 95% CI)

1.48 [1.01, 2.19]

13 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event): stratified by treatment Show forest plot

7

1114

Hazard Ratio (Fixed, 95% CI)

1.09 [0.97, 1.22]

13.1 Chemoradiotherapy

4

602

Hazard Ratio (Fixed, 95% CI)

0.88 [0.76, 1.03]

13.2 Radiotherapy

3

512

Hazard Ratio (Fixed, 95% CI)

1.39 [1.18, 1.64]

14 Long‐term mortality (binary): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy Show forest plot

2

431

Risk Ratio (M‐H, Fixed, 95% CI)

1.04 [0.93, 1.16]

15 Long‐term mortality (time‐to‐event): definitive chemoradiotherapy versus surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy Show forest plot

2

431

Hazard Ratio (Fixed, 95% CI)

0.99 [0.78, 1.26]

Figuras y tablas -
Comparison 1. Surgical versus non‐surgical treatment of oesophageal cancer