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Definitive chemoradiotherapy (dCRT) is a treatment option for patients with localized esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We investigated consolidation chemotherapy (CCT) in patients with ESCC who attained clinical complete response after dCRT. Between January 2009 and December 2012, medical records of ESCC patients treated with dCRT were retrospectively reviewed, and those who attained CCR were identified. Progression-free survival and overall survival rates were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox regression model was used to determine prognostic factors. Of the 522 patients treated with dCRT, 209 patients achieved CCR, with 67 receiving consolidation chemotherapy (the CCT group) and 142 receiving dCRT alone (the control group). CCT did not prolong progression-free survival (33.0 vs 18.0 months, P = 0.07, HR = 0.70, 95% CI, 0.48–1.04); however, CCT improved the median overall survival (53.4 vs 27.0 months, P = 0.04, HR = 0.67, 95% CI, 0.44–0.99) compared with dCRT alone. CCT remained a favorable prognostic factor for overall survival in a multivariate analysis (HR = 0.59, P = 0.02); however, a propensity score analysis failed to show an additional overall survival benefit with CCT. In the present analysis, CCT did not improve progression-free survival but may have extended overall survival in ESCC patients who achieved complete clinical response after dCRT.

Formaldehyde (FA), a ubiquitous environmental pollutant, has long been suspected of having male reproductive toxicity. However, FA male reproductive toxicity was inconclusive due to dearth of human studies. Therefore, we sought to investigate whether occupational exposure to FA affects semen quality. Semen quality including five conventional parameters and seven kinematics parameters were compared between 114 male workers occupationally exposed to FA and 76 referents. FA exposure index (FEI) was measured and calculated. Our results showed that sperm progressive motility, total sperm motility, VCL, VSL and VAP were statistically significant decreased in FA exposure workers compared with the referents. Moreover, FEI was significantly negative associated with sperm progressive motility (β = −0.19, P = 0.01) and total sperm motility (β = −0.23, P = 0.004). In addition, a significant elevated risk of abnormal sperm progressive motility were observed in both low- (OR = 2.58; 95% CI: 1.11–5.97) and high-FA-exposed group (OR = 3.41; 95% CI: 1.45–7.92) respectively. Furthermore, a significant increased risk was also estimated for abnormal total sperm motility in both low- (OR = 3.21; 95% CI: 1.24–8.28) and high-FA-exposed group (OR = 4.84; 95% CI: 1.83–12.81) respectively. In conclusion, our study revealed the adverse effects of FA occupation exposure on semen quality, especially on sperm motion parameters.