Table 3 Relationship between the clinicopathological characteristics and recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of 154 pT1b ESCC ^a patients

Clinicopathological characteristics

Total

Recurrence (%)

Distant metastasis (%)

Univariate Cox proportional hazards analysis

RFS

OS

DMFS

HR

95% CI

P

HR

95% CI

P

HR

95% CI

P

Lymphovascular invasion

 HE-VI ^b + 

6

4 (66.7)

0 (0)

1.947

0.704–5.382

0.199

1.002

0.243–4.135

0.998

0.047

0.000–9023.544

0.623

 HE-VI-

148

58 (39.2)

19 (12.8)

1

1

1

 HE–LI ^c + 

33

19 (57.6)

8(24.2)

2.361

1.369–4.072

0.002

2.251

1.243–4.076

0.007

4.539

1.782–11.563

0.002

 HE–LI-

121

43 (35.5)

11 (9.1)

1

1

1

 E-VI ^d + 

105

53 (50.5)

15(14.3)

3.350

1.651–6.798

0.001

3.553

1.599–7.897

0.002

2.379

0.788–7.185

0.124

 E-VI-

49

9 (18.4)

4(8.2)

1

1

1

 Peritumoral E-VI + 

60

31 (51.7)

7(11.7)

1.611

0.979–2.652

0.061

1.654

0.836–3.275

0.149

0.950

0.374–2.418

0.915

 Peritumoral E-VI-

94

31 (33.0)

12(12.8)

1

1

1

 CD31-VI ^e + 

36

20 (55.6)

7(19.4)

2.226

1.296–3.824

0.004

1.925

1.069–3.564

0.029

2.838

1.082–7.442

0.034

 CD31-VI-

118

42 (35.6)

12(10.2)

1

1

1

 Peritumoral CD31-VI + 

28

15 (53.6)

4(14.3)

2.079

1.151–3.751

0.015

1.586

0.806–3.121

0.182

1.702

0.554–5.227

0.353

 Peritumoral CD31-VI-

126

47 (37.3)

15(11.9)

1

1

1

 D2-40-LI ^f + 

75

38 (50.7)

14(18.7)

2.109

1.262–3.524

0.004

1.836

1.049–3.214

0.033

3.727

1.341–10.361

0.012

 D2-40-LI-

79

24 (30.4)

5(6.3)

1

1

1

 Peritumoral D2-40-LI + 

64

29 (45.3)

9(14.1)

1.428

0.867–2.355

0.162

1.119

0.640–1.956

0.693

1.562

0.633–3.853

0.333

 Peritumoral D2-40-LI-

90

33 (36.7)

10(11.1)

1

1

1

 L0 ^g

79

26 (30.4)

5(6.3)

1

1

1

 L1

52

22 (46.2)

10(19.2)

1.668

0.946–2.942

0.077

1.624

0.886–2.978

0.117

3.064

1.045–8.980

0.041

 L2

23

14 (60.9)

4(17.4)

4.135

2.111–8.101

 < 0.001

2.769

1.253–6.118

0.012

8.093

2.152–30.441

0.002

Age

  ≥ 60

58

25 (34.1)

7(12.1)

1.034

0.622–1.791

0.897

1.216

0.698–2.118

0.491

1.040

0.403–2.682

0.936

  < 60

96

37 (38.5)

12(12.5)

1

1

1

Sex

 Male

111

45 (40.5)

17(15.3)

1

1

1

 Female

43

17 (39.5)

2(4.7)

1.141

0.648–2.088

0.649

1.271

0.689–2.343

0.443

0.319

0.073–1.388

0.128

Degree of differentiation

 Well

30

11 (36.7)

1(3.3)

1

1

1

 Moderate

59

23 (39.0)

8(13.6)

1.127

0.549–2.314

0.745

1.067

0.479–2.378

0.873

4.743

0.587–38.307

0.144

 Poor

38

16 (42.1)

5(13.2)

1.225

0.568–2.641

0.604

1.243

0.531–2.911

0.616

4.832

0.562–41.558

0.151

 Basaloid

19

10 (52.6)

3(15.8)

1.538

0.653–3.642

0.325

1.668

0.661–4.205

0.278

7.998

0.825–77.522

0.073

 Sarcomatoid

8

2 (25.0)

2(25.0)

0.747

0.165–3.375

0.705

0.941

0.202–4.370

0.938

8.773

0.794–96.872

0.076

LNM

 Yes

42

21 (50.0)

8(19.0)

1.769

1.044–2.997

0.034

1.976

1.111–3.514

0.020

16.187

6.211–42.183

 < 0.001

 No

112

41 (36.6)

11(9.8)

1

1

Tumor location

 Upper thoracic

30

20 (66.7)

5(16.7)

2.738

1.567–4.785

 < 0.001

2.659

1.440–4.911

0.002

2.306

0.767–6.938

0.137

 Middle thoracic

100

33 (33)

9(9.0)

1

1

1

 Lower thoracic

24

9 (37.5)

5(20.8)

1.173

0.561–2.454

0.671

1.249

0.565–2.762

0.583

2.600

0.869–7.780

0.087

Macroscopic type

 Plaque-like

81

34 (42.0)

7(8.6)

1

1

1

 papillary

18

3 (16.7)

1(5.6)

0.333

0.102–1.083

0.068

0.253

0.060–1.061

0.060

0.488

0.060–3.999

0.504

 Erosive

31

11 (35.5)

6(19.4)

0.801

0.406–1.584

0.524

0.726

0.343–1.535

0.402

1.913

0.641–5.707

0.245

 Ulcerative

9

7 (77.8)

2(22.2)

2.337

1.027–5.341

0.043

2.077

0.854–5.049

0.107

4.081

0.827–20.138

0.084

 Intraluminal mass

15

7 (46.7)

3(20.0)

1.770

0.778–4.027

0.174

1.382

0.532–3.593

0.506

3.710

0.943–14.600

0.061

Depth of tumor invasion ^h

 sm1

15

3 (20%)

0(0)

1

1

1

 sm2

36

15 (41.7%)

5(13.9)

2.321

0.671–8.026

0.183

2.595

0.581–11.599

0.212

-

-

0.928

 sm3

103

44 (42.7%)

14(13.6)

2.645

0.821–8.524

0.103

3.222

0.776–17.373

0.107

-

-

0.926

Tumor thickness

  ≥ 3000 μm

121

50 (41.3)

13(10.7)

1.448

0.769–2.729

0.252

1.419

0.709–2.843

0.323

0.820

0.309–2.172

0.689

  < 3000 μm

33

12 (36.4)

6(18.2)

1

1

1

Submucosal invasion thickness

  ≥ 2000 μm

90

38 (42.2)

11(12.2)

1.493

0.890–2.504

0.129

1.762

0.984–3.154

0.057

1.591

0.615–4.114

0.339

  < 2000 μm

64

24 (37.5)

8(12.5)

1

1

1