Evidence Hub

Japanese prospective registry study of particle therapy for esophageal cancer including comparison with clinical trials in Japan

Ono T, Ishikawa H, Tokumaru S, Soejima T, Isozaki T, Kimoto T, Hojo H, Hiroshima Y et al.

Esophagus : official journal of the Japan Esophageal Society, 2026

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Particle therapy is gaining interest for treating esophageal cancer due to its ability to target tumors while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding organs compared to X-ray therapy. While simulations show a favorable distribution with particle therapy, there is ongoing discussion regarding its impact on the prognosis of esophageal cancer. This study sought to assess the effectiveness of particle therapy in treating esophageal cancer by comparing it with previous clinical trials of X-ray therapy in Japan.

METHODS: This was a multicenter, prospective, observational registry study, and particle therapy was performed in accordance with a unified treatment policy. For stage I and II/III cases, cases that met the eligibility criteria for the Japan Clinical Oncology Group 0502 and 0909 clinical trials were extracted, and the clinical results were compared.

RESULTS: The three-year overall survival rates were 94.7% and 84.9% for stage I and stage II/III cases, respectively. The three-year progression-free survival rates were 90.4% in stage I patients and 60.3% in stage II/III patients. No statistically significant differences were observed in overall survival or progression-free survival when comparing registry data with the two Japan Clinical Oncology Group studies. No grade 3 or higher cardiopulmonary toxicities were observed in the registry data.

CONCLUSIONS: This study analyzed nationwide registry data, and particle therapy is a safe treatment regarding…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free