Asian Pacifc Journal of Cancer Prevention, Vol 13, 2012 3451 DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2012.13.7.3451 Survival Rate and Prognostic Factors of Esophageal Cancer in East Azerbaijan Province, North-west of Iran Asian Pacifc J Cancer Prev, 13, 3451-3454 Introduction Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the sixth leading cause of cancer mortality in the worldwide (Bashash et al., 2011). The north of Iran (lies in the central Asian belt) have been observed to dominate malignancies of esophageal cancer. The five-year survival is usually 13 percent (Ghadimi et al., 2011). East Azerbaijan is located in the north western Iran neighbor provinces around Caspian Sea. The esophageal cancer is one of the fve most common cancers in East Azerbaijan, being the 3th most common cancer in females and the 4th most common in males (Somi et al., 2008).There have not been any studies in this region on the survival statistics and prognostic factors of esophageal cancers. Esophageal cancer is one of the rapidly progressing tumors with a dismal prognosis (Hajian., 2001). The Survival of esophageal cancer is mainly determined by age, the stage of cancer at presentation and type of treatment (Aghchel et al., 2011). The aim of this study was to calculate the survival rates and analyze the factors affecting the patients’ prognosis in esophageal cancer. 1 Liver and Gastrointestinal Disease Research Center, 2 Radiation Oncology Therapy of IMAM REZA (AS) Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, 3 School of Medicine and National Public Health Management Center, Tabriz, Iran *For correspondence: mirinezhad@gmail.com Abstract Background: Esophageal cancer in Iran is the sixth most common cancer and is particularly important in east Azerbaijan. The aim of this study was to calculate survival rates and defne prognostic factors in esophageal cancer patients. Methods: In this study, all patients with esophageal cancer registered in the Radiation Therapy Center, during March 2006 to March 2011, were analyzed and followed up for vital status. Data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazard models. Results: Out of 532 patients, survival information was available for 460, including 205 (44/ 5%) females and 255 (55/4%) males. The mean age was 65.8±12.2, ranging from 29 to 90 years at the time of diagnosis. 1- , 3- and 5-year survival rates after diagnosis were 55%, 18% and 12%, respectively, with a median survival time of 13.2 ± .7 (CI 95% =11.8 -14.6) months. In the univariate analysis, age (P=0/001), education (P=0/001), smoking status (P= 0/001), surgery (P= 0/001), tumor differentiation (P= 0/003) and tumor stage (P= 0/001) were signifcant prognostic factors. Tumor morphology, sex, place of residence, tumor histology and tumor location did not show any signifcant effects on the survival rate. In multivariate analysis, age (P = 0/003), smoking (P= 0/01) and tumor stage (P= 0/001) were signifcant independent predictors of survival. Conclusion: In summary, prognosis of esophageal cancer in North West of Iran is poor. Therefore, reduction in exposure to risk factors and early detection should be emphasized to improve survival. Keywords: Esophageal cancer - survival - prognosis - Kaplan-Meier - Cox proportional hazard model - Iran RESEARCH ARTICLE Survival Rate and Prognostic Factors of Esophageal Cancer in East Azerbaijan Province, North-west of Iran Seyed Kazem Mirinezhad 1 *, Mohammad Hossein Somi 1 , Amir Ghasemi Jangjoo 2 , Farshad Seyednezhad 2 , Saeed Dastgiri 3 , Mohammad Mohammadzadeh 2 , Ali Reza Naseri 2 , Behnam Nasiri 2 Materials and Methods In this retrospective review, was evaluated the survival of fve years esophageal cancer patients(460) treated with CRT at the Imam Reza (AS) Radiation Therapy Center Hospital , of Tabriz university of medical sciences; between during March, 2006 to March, 2011. Clinicopathological variables and survival times were collected by telephone contact and patient’s medical records. The pathology report after endoscopy was used for the diagnosis date. All patient deaths during this period were considered as a result of the esophageal cancer. Survival time was calculated in months. The socio-demographic, pathology and clinical data were obtained using questionnaire and the patients’ clinical records. The factors we considered in our study were age at diagnosis, gender, place of residence, education, cigarette smoking, tumor location, surgery, histology of tumor, tumor differentiation, and tumor stage. Information on 72 patients was missing due to inaccessible telephone number, telephone number change, or immigration. The planned staging procedure was as following: surgical