Analysis of Esophagectomy Margin Practice and Survival Implications

From a thoracic surgery survey, 85% of surgeons use intraoperative frozen section margin analysis to guide surgical decision-making during an esophagectomy. Analyzing patients with a positive margin discovered during esophagectomy suggests that esophageal cancer patients who can be re-resected to a negative margin have increased PFS. Final margin appears to be related to PFS.