| Description |
Combining immunotherapy andchemotherapy is a standard treatment strategy for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).However, the efficacy of this approachin the neoadjuvant treatment of resectable ESCCremains unclear. In this prospective, single-arm, single-center, phase II study, patients with locally advanced,resectable ESCC naive to systemic treatment received three cycles of pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, followed by Da Vinci robot-assisted surgery. Patients achieving a postoperative non-pathological complete response (pCR) received adjuvant pembrolizumab maintenance therapy. The primary endpoints weresafety and major pathological response (MPR). Key secondary endpoints were pCR and survival. Other endpoints included quality of life (QoL) and nutritional status, programmed death-expressing ligand 1expression, andmulti-omicsanalyses. |