Studies of symptom clusters in postoperative patients with esophageal cancer:a scoping review

JIAO Yanling; JIA Wei; LIU Fengxia

doi:10.12102/j.issn.2095-8668.2025.15.009

Abstract：Objective: To conduct a scoping review of the literature on symptom clusters in patients after esophagectomy, to clarify and analyze the current status and deficiencies of research on esophageal cancer symptom clusters, and to provide references for the subsequent research and development of symptom clusters in patients with esophageal cancer. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP Database, and CBM for studies related to symptom clusters in patients with esophageal cancer. The search period ranged from the establishment of the databases to April 9, 2024. Results: A total of 12 articles were included, extracting 8 types of symptom clusters after esophagectomy, including fatigue-related symptom clusters, gastrointestinal reconstruction-related symptom clusters, psychosocial symptom clusters, eating-related symptom clusters, adverse reactions to radiotherapy and chemotherapy symptom clusters, respiratory-related symptom clusters, and somatic symptom clusters. A total of 3 types of influencing factors were extracted, including demographic factors, disease-related factors, and psychological factors. Conclusion: Patients after esophagectomy experience multiple complex and dynamically changing symptom clusters. In clinical practice, it is necessary to dynamically monitor the occurrence of symptoms at different stages and the psychological state of patients according to the characteristics of symptom clusters after esophagectomy. Potential patients should be identified based on relevant influencing factors, and preventive measures should be taken. Timely assessment and intervention should be carried out for key symptoms and symptom clusters. At the same time, attention should be paid to the long-term symptom management of postoperative patients, meeting their needs for supportive care, and ultimately achieving precise management of symptoms in patients after esophagectomy.