Value of Pleural Lavage Cytology in Resectable Esophageal Carcinoma Eastern Cooperative Thoracic Oncology Projects 2005, ECTOP-2005)

Disease recurrence and metastasis are common after curative treatment for patients with esophageal cancer. Thus, it is important to identify the risk factors to predict disease recurrence and metastasis. Pleural lavage cytology (PLC) is reported to be associated with disease recurrence and patient survival in lung cancer, but the value is unclear in esophageal cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the value of PLC in esophageal cancer patient in terms of frequencies, association with patient survival, and efficacy of postoperative treatment.