Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria are as follows: (1) patients who received the total esophagectomy + two-field (complete mediastinal + abdominal) lymph node dissection by means of thoracotomy on both left and right sides in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University; (2) patients undergoing RO; (3) patients with postoperative pathological diagnosis of TESCC; and (4) patients with pathological stage _PT₃N₀M₀. Exclusion criteria are as follows: (1) patients with non-squamous cell carcinoma (SCC); (2) patients with no prior adjuvant PORT and/or postoperative chemotherapy (POCT); (3) patients with positive esophageal stump; and (4) patients with perioperative death and lack of follow-up data.