ORIGINAL RESEARCH The Comparison of the Advantages of Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy versus Postoperative Chemoradiotherapy: Outcomes in Esophageal Cancer Patients Ali Sadrizadeh 1 & Reza Bagheri 1 & Ehsan Soltani 2 & Kazem Anvari 3 & Mehdi Seilanian Toussi 3 & Soheila Moadikhah 4 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract Background and Objectives Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common type of cancer worldwide. For the treatment of which, surgical intervention alone or with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy is rec- ommended. In this study, we aimed to compare the bene- fits of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy versus postopera- tive chemoradiotherapy. Patients and Methods We collected data regarding 325 pa- tients admitted for esophageal cancer to Qaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, during 2006–2016. The participants were divided into two groups of neoadjuvant and postoperative adjuvant therapies. Chi-square, McNemar, Kaplan-Mayer, and multivariate regression tests were performed using SPSS. Results Gender, age, stage of the disease, tumor grade and location, disease histopathology, and the recurrence showed no significant differences between the two groups (P 0.05), but there was a significant association between the two types of treatment in terms of postoperative com- plications (P = 0.03). We followed up 147 patients post- operatively and found no significant differences between the groups (P 0.05). Conclusion No conclusion can be drawn on whether there are any advantages in adjuvant chemoradiotherapy over neoadju- vant approaches. Further confirmatory trials, particularly ran- domized trials, are necessary before any recommendations can be made. Keywords Adjuvant . Chemoradiation . Esophageal cancer . Neoadjuvant Introduction Esophageal cancer is the eighth most prevalent type of cancer worldwide [1], and due to its poor prognosis, it is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related mortality [2, 3]. It caused about 400,000 mortalities in 2012, accounting for about 5% of all cancer-related deaths; approximately 456,000 cases of the disease incidence * Ehsan Soltani Soltanie@mums.ac.ir Ali Sadrizadeh sadrizadeha@mums.ac.ir Kazem Anvari anvarik@mums.ac.ir Mehdi Seilanian Toussi seilaniantm@mums.ac.ir Soheila Moadikhah moadikhahs@mums.ac.ir 1 Cardiothoracic Surgery & Transplant Research Center, Emam Reza Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 2 Department of General Surgery, Acute Care Surgery Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Taleghani University Hospital, Mashhad, Iran 3 Department of Radiotherapy Oncology, Omid Hospital, Cancer Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 4 School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran J Gastrointest Canc DOI 10.1007/s12029-016-9899-0