Comparative efficacy and safety between endoscopic submucosal dissection, surgery and definitive chemoradiotherapy in patients with cT1N0M0 esophageal cancer

Table 1 Baseline patient characteristics before and after inverse probability of treatment weighting adjustment of patients treated by endoscopic submucosal dissection, surgery and definitive chemoradiotherapy

Characteristic		Unmatched				IPTW
		d-CRT	ESD	Surgery	P value	d-CRT	ESD	Surgery	P value
		16	99	220		9	157	207
Sex	Female	5 (31.2)	39 (39.4)	53 (24.1)	0.02	1 (11.1)	24 (15.3)	61 (29.5)	0.228
	Male	11 (68.8)	60 (60.6)	167 (75.9)		8 (88.9)	133 (84.7)	146 (70.5)
Age	< 60	11 (68.8)	44 (44.4)	79 (35.9)	0.02	8 (88.9)	102 (65.0)	29 (38.2)	0.17
	≥ 60	5 (31.2)	55 (55.6)	141 (64.1)		1 (11.1)	55 (35.0)	128 (61.8)
Tumor location	Cervical	0	3 (3.0)	0	< 0.001	0	1 (0.6)	0	0.047
	Upper thoracic	4 (25.0)	13 (13.1)	14 (6.4)		0	5 (3.2)	12 (5.8)
	Middle thoracic	4 (25.0)	42 (42.4)	111 (50.5)		1 (10.5)	27 (17.2)	99 (47.8)
	Lower thoracic	5 (31.2)	39 (39.4)	87 (39.5)		7 (77.4)	121 (77.1)	87 (42.0)
	Multiple sources	3 (18.8)	2 (2.0)	8 (3.6)		1 (8.5)	4 (2.5)	9 (4.4)
Tumor's longest diameter in cm	< 3	5 (31.2)	66 (66.7)	93 (42.3)	< 0.001	1 (11.1)	31 (19.7)	93 (44.9)	0.077
	≥ 3	11 (68.8)	33 (33.3)	127 (57.7)		8 (88.9)	126 (80.3)	114 (55.1)
Circumference ratio	< 3/4	12 (75.0)	97 (98.0)	178 (80.9)	< 0.001	8 (88.9)	136 (86.6)	176 (85.0)	0.902
	≥ 3/4	4 (25.0)	2 (2.0)	42 (19.1)		1 (11.1)	21 (13.4)	31 (15.0)
Depth of infiltration	M1	4 (25.0)	87 (87.9)	49 (22.3)	< 0.001	2 (22.2)	59 (37.6)	85 (41.1)	0.072
	M2	2 (12.5)	4 (4.0)	9 (4.1)		6 (66.7)	3 (1.9)	9 (4.3)
	M3-SM1	2 (12.5)	3 (3.0)	18 (8.2)		0	8 (5.1)	14 (6.8)
	SM2-3	8 (50.0)	5 (5.1)	144 (65.5)		1 (11.1)	87 (55.4)	99 (47.8)
Histology	Precancerous	11 (68.8)	89 (89.9)	51 (23.2)	< 0.001	3 (33.3)	61 (38.9)	88 (42.5)	0.422
	Well-differentiated SCC	0	1 (1.0)	7 (3.2)		0	0	5 (2.4)
	Moderately-differentiated SCC	5 (31.2)	6 (6.1)	108 (49.1)		6 (66.7)	88 (56.1)	77 (37.2)
	Poorly-differentiated SCC	0	3 (3.0)	54 (24.5)		0	8 (5.0)	37 (17.9)
R0 resection or CR	No	4 (25.0)	8 (8.1)	147 (66.8)	< 0.001	1 (11.1)	88 (55.9)	101 (48.8)	0.544
	Yes	12 (75.0)	91 (91.9)	73 (33.2)		8 (88.9)	69 (44.1)	106 (51.2)
Complication	No	9 (56.2)	93 (93.9)	143 (65.0)	< 0.001	7 (77.8)	54 (34.4)	151 (72.9)	0.039
	Yes	7 (43.8)	6 (6.1)	77 (35.0)		2 (22.2)	103 (65.6)	56 (27.1)
Lymph node metastasis	N0	14 (87.5)	96 (97.0)	196 (89.1)	0.059	9 (100.0)	155 (98.7)	189 (91.3)	0.002
	N1-2	2 (12.5)	3 (3.0)	24 (10.9)		0	2 (1.3)	18 (8.7)

Data are n (%). CR: Complete response; d-CRT: Definitive chemoradiotherapy; ESD: Endoscopic submucosal dissection; IPTW: Inverse probability of treatment weighting; M1: Epithelium; M2: Lamina propria mucosa; M3: Muscularis mucosae; SCC: Squamous cell carcinoma; SM: Submucosa.