Esophagectomy For Squamous Cell Carcinoma Research Articles

Commentary on "Surgical outcomes and survival following esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma with or without liver cirrhosis: retrospective cohort study".

Commentary on "Surgical outcomes and survival following esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma with or without liver cirrhosis: retrospective cohort study".

Surgical outcomes and survival following esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma with or without liver cirrhosis: retrospective cohort study.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) shares common risk factors with liver cirrhosis (LC). The influence of LC in patients with ESCC has not been fully investigated. This study aimed to investigate the postoperative and long-term survival outcomes of esophagectomy for ESCC according to LC presence. Among patients who underwent curative-intent surgery for ESCC between 1994 and 2018, 121 patients with Child-Pugh class A LC and 2810 patients without LC were compared. Among the LC patients, 73 (60.3%) were diagnosed with LC before surgery and 48 (39.7%) were diagnosed intraoperatively. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between patients with LC and those without LC. However, intraoperative blood loss was higher, and operation time, hospital stay, and ICU stay were longer in patients with LC than in those without LC. Moreover, the reoperation, 30-day morbidity (60.6 vs. 73.6%, P =0.006) and 90-day mortality (2.2 vs. 4.9%, P =0.049) were significantly higher in patients with LC. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was significantly higher in patients without LC than in those with LC. After adjusting the confounding variables, LC was an adverse risk factor of OS (hazard ratio 1.402, P =0.004). Among patients with LC, the Model of End-Stage Liver Disease score was related to the development of complications of grade more than III (odds ratio 1.459, P =0.013). ESCC patients with Child-Pugh class A LC have high incidences of postoperative morbidity and mortality, and poor OS. Thus, careful patient selection, meticulous operation, and careful postoperative care are needed.

Proposal of a coagulation score to predict postoperative survival of patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy followed by subtotal esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

448 Background: Despite advances in multimodality treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), the recurrence rate after curative resection remains high. Assessment of the risk of disease recurrences after curative resection of ESCC will be helpful for optimization of individual patient management. The close association between coagulation status and progression of malignant tumors has been previously reported. We herein sought to identify sensitive prognostic factors in ESCC by combining multiple coagulation markers. Methods: A total of 200 patients who underwent curative subtotal esophagectomy after neoadjuvant treatment for ESCC between January 2012 and December 2020 were included in the analysis. We retrospectively evaluated the correlation of preoperative plasma D-dimer (upper limit of normal, 1.0 μg/mL), fibrinogen (upper limit of normal, 350 mg/dL) levels and the coagulation score, which is calculated by combining levels of D-dimer and fibrinogen, with postoperative prognosis. The coagulation score was determined as follows. 0, neither D-dimer nor fibrinogen were elevated; 1, either D-dimer or fibrinogen was above the upper limit of normal; 2, both were elevated. Results: There was no significant difference in postoperative recurrence-free survival between the high and low groups for either preoperative D-dimer alone or preoperative fibrinogen alone. 59 patients (29.5%), 99 patients (49.5%) and 42 patients (21%) were categorized into coagulation score 0, 1 and 2, respectively. Patients in the coagulation score 1-2 group had a significantly shorter recurrence-free survival time than those in the coagulation score 0 group (hazard ratio 1.99, P = 0.0223). Conclusions: The coagulation score combining with plasma D-dimer and fibrinogen levels was suggested to be a simple predictor of postoperative recurrences in patients undergoing curative subtotal esophagectomy after neoadjuvant treatment for ESCC.

Predictive model of postoperative pneumonia after neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy for esophageal cancer.

Postoperative pneumonia (PP) is the most common pulmonary complication of esophagectomy. It is of great importance to identify any high-risk factors and prevent pulmonary complications to improve the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer undergoing esophagectomy. Thus, we established a predictive model of PP in patients with neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy for resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and provide suggestions for the best strategy for the perioperative period of the patients. We retrospectively analyzed 78 patients who underwent esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma after neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy between September 2019 and August 2021.We used the "glmnet" language package in R to perform least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression to screen the best predictors of PP, and nomograms predicting PP were constructed utilizing screened factors. The performance of nomograms was internally validated by calibration curves, concordance index (C-index), and the Brier score for overall performance. Twenty-six patients (33.3%) had postoperative pneumonia. After LASSO regression, the factors that were independently associated with PP were diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO) (P=0.0002), white blood cell (WBC) difference before vs. after neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (P=0.0133). We constructed a prediction model, plotted the nomogram, and verified its accuracy. Its Brier score was 0.147, its calibration slope was 0.98, and its C-index was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.75-0.95). Internal validation demonstrated a good discrimination power that the actual probability corresponds closely with the predicted probability. Our prediction model can predict the possibility of PP in patients with neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy for resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and may facilitate physicians' efforts to reduce the incidence of postoperative pneumonia.

Role of chemotherapy after curative esophagectomy in squamous cell carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus: A propensity score-matched analysis.

BackgroundThe efficacy of postoperative treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus has not yet been determined. In this retrospective study, we investigated whether postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (POCT) confers a survival benefit on patients who undergo curative esophagectomy.MethodsA total of 782 patients were enrolled in our study. The patients were divided into surgery alone (S) and surgery plus postoperative chemotherapy (S + POCT) groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to eliminate the differences in baseline characteristics. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), which was calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method and compared with the log‐rank test. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify factors influencing the prognosis.ResultsOf 782 patients, 343 (43.9%) underwent S alone, and 439 (56.1%) underwent S + POCT before PSM. The five‐year OS rates were 42.3% and 47.8% in the S and S + POCT groups (p = 0.080), respectively. After PSM (296 patients per group), the five‐year OS rates were 48.7% and 56.2% in the S and S + POCT groups (p = 0.025), respectively. For different cycles of POCT, patients with more than three cycles had a better survival than those with less than three cycles. The significant predictive factors for OS were pN stage (HR = 1.861, 95% CI: 1.310–2.645, p = 0.001), number of dissected nodes (HR = 0.621, 95% CI: 0.494–0.781, p < 0.001) and POCT received (HR = 0.699, 95% CI: 0.559–0.875, p = 0.002), which were identified by multivariate Cox regression analyses in the matched samples.ConclusionsPOCT appears to improve the OS rate of patients with ESCC after resection, and at least four chemotherapy cycles are necessary. These conclusions warrant further confirmation in large‐scale multicenter randomized controlled trials.

Predicting Individual Survival after Curative Esophagectomy for Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Esophageal.

Background Esophageal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Despite the significant progress in the overall treatment of esophageal cancer in recent years, the prognosis for patients who require surgery remains poor. Methods The present study investigated the clinicopathological features of 503 patients who underwent radical esophagectomy at Huashan Hospital of Fudan University between January 2005 and January 2015. Nomograms that predicted the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) survival rates were established using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. Discrimination and calibration, which were calculated after bootstrapping, were used as a measure of accuracy. Results Multivariate analyses were used to select five independent prognostic variables and build the nomogram. These variables were pathological T stage, pathological N factor, rate of positive LNs, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and postoperative sepsis. The nomogram was built to predict the rates for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). The concordance index for the nomogram prediction for OS and DFS was 0.720 and 0.707, respectively. Compared to the conventional TNM staging system, the nomogram had better predictive accuracy for survival (OS 0.720 vs. 0.672, P < 0.001; DFS 0.707 vs. 0.667; P < 0.001). Conclusions The present study incorporated pathological T stage, pathological N factor, rate of positive LNs, history of COPD, and postoperative sepsis into a nomogram to predict the OS and DFS of ESCC patients. This practical system may help clinicians in both decision-making and clinical study design. The assessment of lung function for patients with COPD preoperative, and the control of disease progression are needed. Furthermore, the postoperative infection of patients should be controlled. Further studies may help to extend the validation of this method and improve the model through parameter optimization.

Three-Field Lymphadenectomy in Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy for Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) has been used widely for the treatment of esophageal cancer. However, there is still a lack of consensus on the extent of lymphadenectomy in MIE. The objective of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of three-field lymphadenectomy (3-FL) in MIE, compared with the standard two-field lymphadenectomy (2-FL). A single-center randomized controlled trial was conducted, enrolling patients with resectable thoracic esophageal cancer (cT1-3,N0-3,M0) between June 2016 and May 2019. Eligible patients were randomized into two groups to receive either 3-FL or 2-FL during MIE procedures. Perioperative outcomes of the two groups were compared. The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR-INR-16007957). Seventy-six eligible patients were randomly assigned to the 3-FL group (n= 38) and the 2-FL group (n= 38). Compared with patients in the 2-FL group, patients in the 3-FL group had more lymph nodes harvested (54.7 ± 16.5vs 30.9 ± 9.6, P < .001) and more metastatic lymph nodes identified (3.5 ± 4.5 vs 1.7 ± 2.0, P= .027). Patients in the 3-FL group were diagnosed with a more advanced final pathologic TNM stage than patients in the 2-FL group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in blood loss, major postoperative complications, or duration of hospital stay, except that the operation time was longer in the 3-FL group than in the 2-FL group (270.5 ± 45.4 minutes vs 236.7 ± 47.0 minutes, P= .002). Three-field lymphadenectomy allowed harvesting of more lymph nodes and more accurate staging without increased surgical risks compared with 2-FL MIE for esophageal cancer.

Outcomes of single versus two stage oesophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma.

Outcomes of single versus two stage oesophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma.

507 NEOADJUVANT AND ADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPIES FOR PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT RESECTION FOR SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA CF THE THORACIC ESOPHAGUS

Abstract The efficacy of neo-adjuvant chenmotherapy (NCT) and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the esophagus has not been fully expounded. This study analyzed the prognostic factors of patients who underwent esophagectomy for SCC of the thoracic esophagus, specially focused on NCT and ACT. Methods From January 2008 to January 2016, 1075 consecutive patients underwent esophgagectomy for stage T3-T4 SCC of the thoracic esophagus. Propensity-score matching (PSM) analyses were conducted in patients who underwent NCT, surgery alone (SA) and ACT. After PSM, there were 83 patients in NCT, 249 patients in SA and 249 patients in ACT group. Postoperative outcomes and prognostic factors of patients in the three groups were analyzed. Univariate analysis was performed using the Kaplan–Meier method and multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model. Differences were considered to be statistically significant when P &amp;lt; 0.05. Results The incidence of main postoperative complications was 9.6% (8/83) in NCT group compared to 6.8% (34/498) in SA and ACT groups (P = 0.834). In NCT group, 20 patients (24.1%) were downstaged by NCT and 63 patients (75.9%) remained stable. The 3-year survival rate of the entire group was 51.0%, and the 5-year survival rate was 33.4%. The 5-year survival rate was 32.2% in NCT group, 50.9% in ACT, and 19.5% in SA patients. In univariate analysis, both NCT and ACT were associated with long-term survival. In multivariate analysis, however, ACT rather than NCT was independent prognostic factor. Conclusion This study supports the use of postoperative ACT for patients with stage T3 or T4 SCC of the thoracic esophagus, but the effect of NCT needs further study.

Newly developed primary malignancies in long-term survivors who underwent curative esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

We evaluated the efficacy of the long-term follow-up of patients who underwent radical esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) to screen for recurrence and new primary malignancies. We retrospectively collected 448 ESCC patients who underwent radical esophagectomy. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, computed tomography, a stool test and the assessment of the serum concentration of squamous cell carcinoma antigen and carcinoembryonic antigen were performed annually, even over 5 years after esophagectomy. The incidence of ESCC recurrence and new primary malignancies was investigated. We enrolled 222 patients who survived at least 5years after esophagectomy. A total of 104 new primary malignancies occurred in 82 patients (36.9%) after esophagectomy. Twenty-one malignancies were in the head and neck region, 14 in the residual esophagus, 13 in the prostate and 11 in the gastric tube and lung. Patients who developed new primary malignancies after esophagectomy had a significantly higher Brinkman index than those without new malignancies. An endoscopic approach successfully treated 92.9% of carcinomas in the residual esophagus, 90.9% of cancers in the gastric tube and 42.9% of carcinomas in the head and neck region. The incidence of new primary malignancies was higher than the age-standardized incidence. Long-term follow-up and systemic screening may increase the probability of an early diagnosis and subsequent low-invasive treatment.

Characteristics Associated with Nodal and Distant Recurrence After Radical Esophagectomy for Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Thoracic Esophagus.

Recurrence after radical resection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is common. Limited evidence is available about the differences in clinical characteristics, risk factors, and prognostic significance between nodal and distant recurrence of thoracic ESCC. We retrospectively analyzed 341 patients who underwent radical resection of thoracic ESCC and experienced (1) initial recurrence only in lymph nodes (n = 39), (2) recurrence only at distant organs (n = 57), or (3) no recurrences (n = 245) after follow-up ≥ 24months. Clinicopathological characteristics, survival times, and risk factors were compared between the nodal and distant recurrence groups. The median follow-up time was 57.8months. Metastasectomy as initial treatment for the recurrence was performed for six (15.4%) patients in the nodal recurrence group and one patient in the distant recurrence group. Compared with the nodal recurrence group, patients with distant recurrence had significantly shorter disease-free survival [hazard ratio (HR) 1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10-2.57, P = 0.0169], postrecurrence survival (HR 1.77, 95% CI 1.01-3.10, P = 0.0476), and overall survival (HR 1.98, 95% CI 1.12-3.51, P = 0.0193). The distant recurrence group had significantly larger macroscopic tumor size and more advanced pathological T stage than the nodal recurrence group, whereas preoperative treatment, tumor location, number of fields dissected, tumor differentiation, lymphatic involvement, and vessel invasion were not significantly different between the two groups. Survival times and recurrence risk factors differed between patients with nodal and distant recurrence after radical resection of thoracic ESCC.

Morbidity following salvage esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma: the MD Anderson experience.

The survival advantage associated with the addition of surgical therapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients who demonstrate a complete clinical response to chemoradiotherapy is unclear, and many institutions have adopted an organ-preserving strategy of selective surgery in this population. We sought to characterize our institutional experience of salvage esophagectomy (for failure of definitive bimodality therapy) and planned esophagectomy (as a component of trimodality therapy) by retrospectively analyzing patients with ESCC of the thoracic esophagus and GEJ who underwent esophagectomy following chemoradiotherapy between 2004 and 2016. Of 76 patients who met inclusion criteria, 46.1% (35) underwent salvage esophagectomy. Major postoperative complications (major cardiovascular and pulmonary events, anastomotic leak [grade ≥ 2], and 90-day mortality) were frequent and occurred in 52.6% of the cohort (planned resection: 36.6% [15/41]; salvage esophagectomy: 71.4% [25/35]). Observed rates of 30- and 90-day mortality for the entire cohort were 7.9% (planned: 7.3% [3/41]; salvage: 8.6% [3/35]) and 13.2% (planned: 9.8% [4/41]; salvage: 17.1% [6/35]), respectively. In summary, esophagectomy following chemoradiotherapy for ESCC at our institution has been associated with frequent postoperative morbidity and considerable rates of mortality in both planned and salvage settings. Although a selective approach to surgery may permit organ preservation in many patients with ESCC, these results highlight that salvage esophagectomy for failure of definitive-intent treatment of ESCC may also constitute a difficult clinical undertaking in some cases.

PS02.070: DEEP NEURAL NETWORK TO PREDICT POOR PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH ESOPHAGEAL CANCER

Abstract Background Both lymphovascular invasion, which is characterized by penetration of tumor cells into the peritumoural vascular or lymphatic network, and perineural invasion, which is characterized by involvement of tumor cells surrounding nerve fibers, are considered as an important step for tumor spreading, and are known poor prognostic factors in esophageal cancer. However, the information of these histological features is unavailable until pathological examination of surgical resected specimens. We aim to predict the presence or absence of these factors by positron emission tomography images during staging workup. Methods The positron emission tomography images before treatment and pathological reports of 278 patients who underwent esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma were collected. Stepwise convolutional neural network was constructed to distinguish patient with either lymphovascular invasion or perineural invasion from those without. Results Randomly selected 248 patients were included in the testing set. Stepwise approach was used in training our custom neural network. The performance of fine-tuned neural network was tested in another independent 30 patients. The accuracy rate of predicting the presence or absence of either lymphovascular invasion or perineural invasion was 66.7% (20 of 30 were accurate). Conclusion Using pre-treatment positron emission tomography images alone to predict the presence of absence of poor prognostic histological factors, i.e. lymphovascular invasion or perineural invasion, with deep convolutional neural network is possible. The technique of deep learning may identify patients with poor prognosis and enable personalized medicine in esophageal cancer. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Comparison of perioperative outcomes following hybrid minimally invasive versus open Ivor Lewis esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.

The outcomes of various minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) procedures for esophageal cancer have been reported; however, those of the hybrid approach are lacking. This study aimed to assess the impacts of hybrid minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy (HIL, laparoscopy and right thoracotomy) for esophageal cancer on perioperative outcomes compared with the open approach. This was a retrospective study of 153 patients who underwent Ivor Lewis esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma between January 2008 and December 2016. Patients who received neoadjuvant treatment prior to surgery (n=22) and underwent complete minimally invasive procedures (n=16) were excluded. Clinical characteristics and perioperative outcomes of patients who underwent HIL (n=53) were compared with findings in patients who underwent open Ivor Lewis esophagectomy (OIL, n=62). There were 112 men (97.4%) and 3 women (2.6%) with a median age of 66 years (range, 45-83 years). The HIL and OIL groups were comparable with respect to age, sex, preoperative pulmonary function, location of the tumor, and preoperative laboratory findings. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding surgical data, except for pyloric management. Postoperative complications occurred in 17 (32.1%) and 23 (37.1%) patients in the HIL and OIL groups, respectively (P=0.573); in-hospital mortality rates were 3.8% and 8.1%, respectively (P=0.337). HIL group patients had higher albumin (3.3 vs. 2.9 g/dL; P<0.001) and lower C-reactive protein (6.4 vs. 8.1 mg/L; P<0.001) postoperatively. The length of hospital stay was shorter in the HIL group (13.5 vs. 19.2 days; P=0.002). Compared with the conventional open approach, HIL for esophageal cancer showed better postoperative nutritional and inflammatory status, resulting in shorter hospital stays. However, further studies are required to evaluate the long-term oncologic outcomes of this hybrid approach.

Transmural migration of azygous vein Hem-O-lok clip causing food bolus 3 months following uneventful minimally invasive oesophagectomy

Background: Hem-o-lok clips are widely deployed in various laparoscopic and robotic operations. Their migration is not very common and majority of reported cases are limited to biliary, prostatic and vesico-urethral cases.Methods: Herein, we would like to report the first case of transmural migration of Hem-o-lok clip from azygous vein stump following totally minimally invasive two-stage oesophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the distal oesophagus, into the gastric conduit 3-months following uneventful discharge. The patient presented with 5-days history of worsening dysphagia.Results: The subsequent gastroscopy revealed normal gastric conduit with two Hem-o-lok clips containing the azygous vein stump within its lumen at the level of the oesophago-gastric anastomosis, propagating a food bolus obstruction. The foreign body was successfully removed and the patient was discharged the same day without any complications at 5 months follow up.Conclusion: Hem-o-lok clip migration trends to be a well-established event. However, their mechanism and exact incidence remains elusive to this date. To the best of our knowledge, their migration in oesophageal cancer surgery has not been reported.

An analysis of the risk factors of anastomotic stricture after esophagectomy.

Anastomotic stricture after esophagectomy is a major cause of long-term morbidity and a poor quality of life. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors for the development of anastomotic stricture after esophagectomy. The study subjects were 213 patients who underwent esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus between 2012 and 2014. Anastomotic stricture was defined as stenosis at the site of anastomosis that required endoscopic dilation. Refractory stricture was defined as that requiring more than four sessions of dilations. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the potential risk factors for the development of anastomotic stricture. In this retrospective study, 29 patients (13.6%) developed anastomotic stricture within a median period of 108 postoperative days and required a median of 2 dilations. Tumors located in the upper part of the esophagus (p = 0.004), the presence of cardiovascular disease (p = 0.024) and anastomotic leakage (p = 0.002) were identified as independent risk factors for the development of anastomotic stricture. The time to the diagnosis of refractory stricture (85 ± 33 days) was significantly shorter than that of non-refractory stricture (171 ± 22 days, p = 0.038). Patients with squamous cell carcinoma in the upper esophagus with cardiovascular disease who develop postoperative anastomotic leakage should be carefully monitored to prevent the development of benign anastomotic stricture.

Lymphovascular invasion and extracapsular invasion are risk factors for distant recurrence after preoperative chemoradiotherapy and oesophagectomy in patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma have a high risk of disease recurrence even after trimodality treatments, which include preoperative chemoradiotherapy and oesophagectomy. We aimed to identify the histological factors that are associated with loco-regional and distant recurrence. A retrospective review of a prospectively established database identified patients who received preoperative chemoradiotherapy and oesophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma. The impact of histological factors, including surgical resection margins, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), perineural invasion (PNI), extracapsular invasion (ECI) and tumour regression grade (TRG), on disease recurrence was analysed. A total of 116 patients treated between 2009 and 2015 were included. Sixty-one patients developed disease recurrence, including 25 loco-regional and 49 distant recurrences, with a median disease-free interval of 6 months. Positive histological surgical resection margins were significantly associated with loco-regional recurrence, whereas pre-treatment N stage, ypT stage, ypN stage, positive surgical resection margins, TRG, LVI, PNI, ECI and TRG were significant prognostic factors for distant recurrence. Upon multivariate analysis, cN stage [hazard ratio (HR): 4.049; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.242-13.200, P = 0.020], LVI (HR: 3.658; 95% CI: 1.891-7.078, P < 0.001) and ECI (HR: 2.393; 95% CI: 1.202-4.763, P = 0.013) remained independent factors for distant recurrence. The 1- and 3-year freedom from distant recurrence rates were 71.8 and 65.6%, respectively, when both LVI and ECI factors were absent, compared to 17.6 and 14.1% when either or both were present ( P < 0.001). Patients with lymphovascular invasion and extracapsular invasion are at a high risk of distant recurrence after preoperative chemoradiotherapy and oesophagectomy. Effective systemic therapy and intensive surveillance are necessary in this group of patients.

Hypoxemia in minimally invasive esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of lower esophagus

Hypoxemia in minimally invasive esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of lower esophagus

Minimally invasive esophagectomy and thoraco-abdominal two-field lymph node dissection for thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-antegrade dissection of the thoracic esophagus.

Minimally invasive esophagectomy has been gaining increasing interest in management of early stage esophageal cancers. Similar oncological principles including radical removal of the tumor as well as systemic lymph node dissection should be observed, regardless of the surgical approach. Improvement in surgical techniques would help achieve comparable oncological outcomes while help patients benefit from the minimally invasive approach. This video introduces an antegrade dissection which is an alternative to the traditional retrograde esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the thoracic esophagus. A 54-year-old male patient had a cT1bN0M0 (stage I) squamous cell carcinoma in the middle thoracic esophagus. The surgery selected was thoracoscopic-laparoscopic three-hole esophagectomy with thoraco-abdominal two-field lymph-adenectomy. In the chest part of the procedure, dissection was carried out in an antegrade fashion, from the apex of the chest downwards to the diaphragm. The thoracic esophagus and the tumor was resected en-bloc with surrounding connective tissue. Thorough lymph node dissection was carefully completed, with special attention paid to those along the bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerves. The patient recovered uneventfully and was discharged on postoperative day 6. Pathologic study revealed a pT1bN1M0 (stage IIb) tumor, with lymphatic involvement detected in a right recurrent nerve node. With the help of minimally invasive approach, rapid recovery from the extensive esophagectomy could be expected. However, it is critically important to make sure that the same oncological principles including a radical resection margin and a thorough lymph node dissection should also be observed. For the thoracic part of the procedure, an antegrade dissection could help achieve this goal, while making surgical maneuver simpler and safer.

Esophageal anastomosis - how the granulation phase of wound healing improves the incidence of anastomotic leakage.

A two-stage esophagectomy with an interval for reconstruction of the esophagus creates an opportunity for the esophageal stump to recover from vessel injury and allows the formation of granulation tissue rich in proangiogenic factors, including transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), which may have an impact on anastomosis healing. The present study comprised 25 patients (27 in total, 2 succumbed to complications following surgery) who underwent two-stage esophagectomy for squamous cell carcinoma in the Department of Gastrointestinal and General Surgery, Wrocław Medical University (Wrocław, Poland) between January 2007 and December 2012. Immunohistochemical staining for VEGF-A and TGF-β was performed to evaluate esophageal wall specimens at the time of esophagostomy construction and prior to anastomosis, in which the cervical esophagus was connected with the colon or ileum. At the time of reconstructive surgery, a significant increase in microvessel density was observed in all esophageal specimens (P<0.03). Significant differences were also identified in the immunohistochemical staining intensity of TGF-β and VEGF-A in the epithelium of all esophageal specimens between biopsies obtained from normal esophageal tissues at the time of esophagectomy and during reconstructive surgery. Delayed anastomosis construction provides an advantage for the esophageal stump to accumulate proangiogenic growth factors, which overlap with the subsequent proliferative stage of the anastomosed tissue and thus supports its recovery, creating an optimal environment for the healing of any fistulas.