Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical application of tubular stomach in cervical esophageal reconstruction after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. Methods A total of 850 patients with esophageal cancer who underwent esophagectomy through cervico-thoraco-abdominal(3-field)approach between January 2007 and January 2009 in North
Jiangsu Hospital were allocated into the tubular stomach group(group A, n=425) and the whole stomach group (group
B, n=425)by operation order. Group A included 287 male and 138 female patients with their average age of 58.2±11.5 years. Among them, 27 patients had upper esophageal cancer, 346 patients had middle esophageal cancer and 52 patients
had lower esophageal cancer. Group B included 298 male and 127 female patients with their average age of 58.5±12.8 years. Among them, 33 patients had upper esophageal cancer, 338 patients had middle esophageal cancer, and 54 patients
had lower esophageal cancer. Operation time, postoperative length of hospital stay and the incidence of anastomotic leakage, anastomotic stricture, intra-thoracic stomach syndrome and reflux esophagitis of the two groups were compared. Results All the patients recovered uneventfully with no in-hospital death. There was no statistical difference in operation time (175.0±12.8 min vs.171.0±10.5 min,t=1.702,P> 0.05)and postoperative length of hospital stay (16.0±8.5 d vs.16.3±8.8 d,t=1.773,P> 0.05) between the two groups. During follow-up of six months, the rates of anastomotic leakage(χ2=5.550,P< 0.05), intra-thoracic stomach syndrome (χ2=10.500,P< 0.05)and reflux esophagitis(χ2=9.150,P< 0.05) of group A were significantly lower than those of group B. There was no significant difference in the incidence of anastomotic stricture (χ2=0.120,P> 0.05) between the two groups. Conclusion Tubular stomach is better than whole stomach for cervical esophageal reconstruction after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer since it is more physiologically and anatomically complied. It can decrease the incidence of anastomotic leakage, intra-thoracic stomach syndrome, reflux esophagitis and improve the postoperative quality of life.
Citation: SUN Chao,SHI Weiping,SHU Yusheng,et al .. Clinical Application of Tubular Stomach in Cervical Esophageal Reconstruction after Esophagectomy for Esophageal Cancer. Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 2012, 19(2): 148-150. doi: Copy