Risk Stratification of Cirrhotic Patients Undergoing Esophagectomy for Esophageal Cancer: A Single-Centre Experience

Concomitant liver cirrhosis is a crucial risk factor for major surgeries. However, only few data are available concerning cirrhotic patients requiring esophagectomy for malignant disease. From a prospectively maintained database of esophageal cancer patients, who underwent curative esophagectomy between 01/2012 and 01/2016, patients with concomitant liver cirrhosis (LCP) were compared to non-cirrhotic patients (NLCP).Of 170 patients, 14 cirrhotic patients with predominately low MELD scores (≤ 9, 64.3%) were identified. Perioperative outcome was significantly worse for LCP, as proofed by 30-day (57.1% vs. 7.7, p<0.001) and 90-day mortality (64.3% vs. 9.6%, p<0.001), anastomotic leakage rate (64.3 vs. 22.3%, p=0.002) and sepsis (57.1 vs. 21.5%, p=0.006). Even after adjustment for age, gender, comorbidities, and surgical approach, LCP revealed higher odds for 30-day and 90-day mortality compared to NLCP. Moreover, 5-year survival analysis showed a significantly poorer long-term outcome of LCP (p=0.023). For risk stratification, none of the common cirrhosis scores proved prognostic impact, whereas components as Bilirubin (auROC 94.4%), INR (auROC=90.0%), and preoperative ascites (p=0.038) correlated significantly with the perioperative outcome. Curative esophagectomy for cirrhotic patients is associated with a dismal prognosis and should be evaluated critically. While MELD and Child score failed to predict perioperative mortality, Bilirubin and INR proofed excellent prognostic capacity in this cohort.