Diagnostic workup for esophageal cancer patients can be improved with checklists and clearer protocols; a comparative study between two tertiary centers in Europe.

BACKGROUND: Rapid and complete workup of newly diagnosed esophageal cancer is vital for a timely, individual and high-quality treatment strategy. The aim of this study was to uncover potential delay, inefficiencies and non-contributing investigations in the diagnostic process in two tertiary referral centers. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included all newly diagnosed esophageal cancer patients referred to or diagnosed in the Amsterdam UMC and Karolinska University Hospital between July 2020 and July 2021. Radiology, pathological assessment and multidisciplinary team meeting reports were reviewed. To assess time interval from diagnosis to treatment, dates of diagnosis, admittance to referral hospital, MDT meeting and start of treatment were collected. RESULTS: In total, 252 esophageal cancer patients were included, 187 were treated with curative intent. Curatively treated patients had a mean age of 66 years, were predominantly male (74.9 %) with an adenocarcinoma (71.1 %). Curatively treated patients had a median time from diagnosis to referral of seven days (IQR:0-11) and of 35 days (IQR:28-45) between diagnosis and start of treatment. Main reasons for the significant (P < 0.001) differences in time between diagnosis and treatment between centers, Amsterdam UMC (39 days) vs Karolinska (27 days), were need for additional diagnostics (47.8 %) and differences in referral routine. Gastroscopy was repeated in 32.2 % of patients, mainly for further anatomical mapping. CONCLUSION: Significant time differences between centers in the path from diagnosis to start treatment can be explained by differences in workup approach, referral routines and MDT meeting regulations. Repeat of gastroscopy can be prevented with clearer endoscopy guidelines.

Incidence and oncological implication of adrenal incidentalomas in esophageal cancer patients.

Adrenal incidentalomas are regularly encountered during imaging for esophageal cancer patients, but their oncological significance remains unknown. This study aimed to describe the incidence and etiology of adrenal incidentalomas observed throughout the diagnostic workup. This retrospective cohort study included all esophageal cancer patients referred to or diagnosed in the Amsterdam UMC between January 2012 and December 2016. Radiology and multidisciplinary team meeting reports were reviewed for adrenal incidentalomas. In case of adrenal incidentaloma, the 18FDG-PET/CT was reassessed by a radiologist blinded for the original report. In case of a metachronous incidentaloma during follow-up, visibility on previous imaging was reassessed. Primary outcome was the incidence, etiology and oncological consequence of synchronous adrenal incidentalomas. This study included 1,164 esophageal cancer patients, with a median age of 66 years. Patients were predominantly male (76.1%) and the majority had an adenocarcinoma (69.0%). Adrenal incidentalomas were documented in 138 patients (11.9%) during the diagnostic workup. At primary esophageal cancer workup, 22 incidentalomas proved malignant. However, follow-up showed that four incidentalomas were inaccurately diagnosed as benign and three malignant incidentalomas were visible on staging imaging but initially missed. Stage migration occurred in 15 of 22 (68.2%), but this would have been higher if none were missed or inaccurately diagnosed. The oncological impact of adrenal incidentalomas in patients with esophageal cancer is significant as a considerable part of incidentalomas changed treatment intent from curative to palliative. As stage migration is likely, pathological examination of a synchronous adrenal incidentaloma should be weighted in mind.