Investigating esophageal sarcomatoid carcinoma and its comparison with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma on clinicopathological characteristics, prognosis, and radiomics features: a retrospective study

Abstract

IntroductionEsophageal sarcomatoid carcinoma (ESC) is a rare pathological subtype of esophageal carcinomas, wherein its epithelial component typically demonstrates squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, the clinicopathological features and prognosis of ESC remain unclear, alongside its unique aspects compared to esophageal SCC (ESCC).MethodsBetween January 2008 and December 2018, we retrospectively reviewed 67 ESC patients treated at West China Hospital. Among them, 51 patients with resected ESC were matched with 98 resected ESCC patients over the same period using propensity score matching at 1:2. The survival time and radiomics features of the two groups were compared.ResultsA total of 59 patients with resected ESC and eight patients with non-resected ESC were enrolled. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly different in patients with different TNM stages (p < 0.001). A multivariate analysis showed that length of tumor was an independent factor for OS in resetable ESC (p = 0.041). Among matched ESC and ESCC patients, OS was significantly longer for patients with ESC than those with ESCC (5-year OS, 61.1% vs. 43.6%; HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.35–0.96; p = 0.032). A Rad-score for discriminating ESC from ESCC containing two CT-derived radiomics features was developed [area under the curve: 0.823 (95% CI 0.732–0.913) in the training cohort and 0.828 (95% CI 0.636–1.000) in the validation cohort, respectively].ConclusionsESC has a better prognosis when compared with ESCC. By developing a radiomics prediction model, we provide reliability and convenience for the differential diagnosis of ESC from ESCC.