Huang Z, et al. - In this retrospective review involving 228 patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC), researchers assessed the efficacy of esophagectomy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Using Kaplan–Meier method, they estimated probabilities of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), which were compared via log-rank test. The benefit of adjuvant therapy was further assessed via propensity score matching analysis. A total of 13 patients (5.7%) achieved pathological complete response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The estimated median DFS and OS rates over a median follow-up of 59.6 months were 35.4 and 45.4 months, respectively. Overall, the researchers found that surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy was applicable. Chemotherapy regimens and ypT category were identified as significant independent predictors of both DFS and OS. Interestingly, ypN category was also a significant independent predictor of OS. Patients, however, did not seem to benefit from subsequent adjuvant therapy. The authors concluded that the need for adjuvant therapy warrants further investigation.