Aims:
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is often accompanied by second primary tumors
in the head and neck region. Patients with an additional head and neck second primary
tumor (HNSPT) have a worse prognosis than those with only ESCC. Therefore, early detection
of HNSPTs may improve the overall outcome of esophageal cancer patients. The aim of
this study was to review the literature to investigate the yield of endoscopic head
and neck screening to detect HNSPTs in patients with ESCC. Secondary aims were to
investigate whether screening should be performed synchronously or metachronously,
and to investigate whether there is enough evidence to justify endoscopic screening
in the Western world.
Methods:
A systematic literature search was conducted until January 2018 to retrieve studies
from Embase, MEDLINE, Web of science, Cochrane Central and Google Scholar. Studies
in which ESCC patients were endoscopically screened for the detection of HNSPTs were
included. MINORS- and relevance-criteria were used to assess the study quality. The
primary outcome was the pooled prevalence of HNSPTs.
Results:
Eight studies were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis with a total
of 4295 patients; all studies were performed in Japan. The pooled prevalence of HNSPTs
was 5.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.6 – 8.1). The overall heterogeneity (I2= 88%, p < 0.001) was high across the studies. Most SPTs were located in the hypopharynx
(59%), classified as low-stage (85%), and detected metachronously (69%).
Conclusions:
Based on our results, the pooled prevalence of HNSPTs was 5.4% (95% CI 3.6 – 8.1).
The majority of HNSPTs were classified as low-stage, which can be treated curatively
and have an excellent prognosis. Therefore, (metachronous) endoscopic screening could
be considered in patients with ESCC. Since all studies were performed in Japan, it
is not clear if this consideration applies to the Western world.