Esophageal cancer is one of the most common malignant cancers with a poor prognosis. For those non advanced stage patients, multi-disciplinary treatment based on surgery remains to be an important treatment strategy. Even though surgical techniques have developed rapidly, it still remains controversies in the surgical treatment of esophageal cancer. This review aimed to summarize and discuss those hot topics about the surgery of esophageal cancer, including surgical approaches of esophagectomy, anastomosis, lymphadenectomy, minimally invasive esophagectomy, and neoadjuvant therapy, hoping to provide evidence and perspectives in the surgical treatment for esophageal cancer.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (a CRTS group) plus surgery versus surgery alone (a SA group) in the treatment of resectable esophageal neoplasms. Methods PubMed, Ovid Technologies, SCI, CBM Database, CNKI Database, VIP Database and Wanfang Database were searched to identify all published or unpublished RCTs those compared neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus surgery with surgery alone for resectable esophageal neoplasms up to August 1, 2015. Meta-analysis was conducted by using Stata12.0 software. Results Twenty-six RCTs included 3 252 patients (1 606 in the CRTS group, 1 646 in the SA group) were selected. There was a significant difference between the CRTS group and the SA group in 3-year survival rate, 5-year survival rate, R0 resection rate, local recurrence rate, local recurrence and distant metastasis rate with relative risk (RR) value and 95%CI at 1.24 (1.13–1.36, P<0.000 1), 1.29 (1.10–1.50,P=0.001), 1.13 (1.05–1.212, P=0.001), 0.67 (0.52–0.85, P=0.001), 0.60 (0.40–0.90, P=0.013). And there was no significant difference between the CRTS group and the SA group in 1-year survival rate and distant metastasis with RR (95%CI) of 1.05 (0.99–1.12, P=0.103) and 0.84 (0.70–1.00, P=0.053). There was no significant difference in postoperative complications, 30-days mortality, pulmonary infections, anastomotic leakage, anastomotic stricture, cardiac complications, chylothorax between the two groups with RR (95%CI) at 1.09 (0.96–1.24, P=0.166), 1.32 (0.96–1.83, P=0.485), 1.45 (0.94–2.23, P=0.091), 0.89 (0.63–1.25, P=0.485), 0.93 (0.64–1.35, P=0.731), 1.24(0.84–1.87, P=0.283), and 1.62 (0.85–3.07, P=0.142). Conclusion CRTS significantly benefits to survival rate, R0 rescetion rate, and local recurrence rate compared to SA. Additionally there is no increased postoperative complication for patients with resectable esophageal neoplasms.
Objective?To summarize our experience of surgical treatment of Boerhaave’s Syndrome. Methods We retrospectively analyzed clinical records of 14 patients with Boerhaave’s syndrome in West China Hospital between January 1998 and December 2011. There were 11 male patients and 3 female patients with a mean age of 55.2±14.4 years and mean time interval between onset and admission of 49.6±21.2 h. Primary repair was performed in 11 patients.Esophagectomy and reconstruction of digestive track was performed in 1 patient and intra-luminal stent implantation was applied in 1 patient. Intercostal catheter insertion was performed in 1 patient.?Results?Thirteen patients underwent surgical therapy, and their survival rate was 84.6% (11/13). Among the eleven patients who underwent primary repair, 8 patients (72.7%)were cured and 3 patients experienced postoperative leakage resulting 2 deaths. The other one patient was cured with in-hospital time of 22.3±7.0 d. Two patients underwent digestive track reconstruction and intra-luminal stent implantation respectively and all survived with in-hospital time 39.0±5.7 d. Another patient underwent bedside chest drainage and died 10 d after admission.?Conclusion?Aggressive surgical management is an effective way to treat Boerhaave’s syndrome, and primary repair can lead to ideal prognosis in delayed patients whose time interval between onset and admission is beyond 24 h. Digestive track reconstruction and intra-luminal stent implantation are alternative methods on condition that primary repair can not be accomplished.
Objective To investigate the effects of inflammatory reaction of thymomas with myasthenia gravis (MG) treated by traditional thoracotomy and minimally invasive surgery. Methods A total of 40 thymomas patients (Mssaoka Ⅰ or Ⅱ) with myasthenia gravis from August 2014 to June 2015 were treated by traditional thoracotomy (n=20) or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (n=20). The serum levels of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, CRP and CORT were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods at before anesthesia (T1), after anesthesia (T2), 2 h after skin cut (T3), 24 h post-operation (T4), 48 h post-operation (T5) and 72 h post-operation (T6) respectively. Perioperative parameters were also reported. The statistics analysis was performed by SPSS 17.0 software. Results The serum levels of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, CRP and CORT had no significant difference between T1 and T2, T2 and T3 (allP value>0.05) in both groups. But the serum levels of these factors after operation were obviously higher than that of before operation, commonly the highest level was reached at T4 (allP value>0.01), and also was higher at T6 than that of before the operation (allP value<0.01), except the level of TNF-α recovered rapidly to the level of before operation (allP value>0.05) in the VATS group. The operation time, postoperative drainage tube indwelling time and incision healing time in the VATS were lower than that in the control group (allP value<0.05). Conclusion VATS could be widely applied in clinical practice with lowering operative trauma and reducing the degree of inflammatory reaction.
Lymphatic metastasis of esophageal cancer is one of the main ways of esophageal cancer metastasis and it is as well one of the most important factors influencing the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients. Compared to intravenous administration of chemotherapy, local chemotherapy has the less toxicity and less systemic side effects. Nano carbon is a safe and effective carrier for intraoperative lymphatic chemotherapy. It plays an important role in tracing and targeting lymph node during the lymphatic chemotherapy. Lymphatic chemotherapy can induce tumor into necrosis and apoptosis. For esophageal cancer, lymphatic chemotherapy is also to be proved to improve the rate of lymph node dissection and the number of metastatic lymph nodes, decrease tumor size, improve the quality of life and survival rate. In conclusion, lymphatic chemotherapy can be considered an assistant therapy to eliminate the tumor cell in lymph nodes and micrometastatic foci. In this review, the metastatic characteristic of esophageal cancer, the significance, mechanism and application of lymphatic chemotherapy carried by nano carbon are summarized.
Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients treated with esophagectomy following endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for early stage esophageal cancer or precancerosis and the reasons for esophagectomy. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 57 patients who were treated with esophagectomy following ESD in West China Hospital and Shanxian Hygeia Hospital from January 2012 through October 2016. There were 42 males and 15 females at age of 65.4 (52–77) years. There were 15 patients of upper thoracic lesions, the middle thoracic lesions in 34 patients, and the lower thoracic lesions in 8 patients. Results The reasons for esophagectomy included 3 patients with residual tumor, 8 patients with local recurrence, 37 patients with esophageal stricture, and 9 patients with dysphagia, although the diameter was larger than 1.0 cm. The pathology after esophagectomy revealed that tumor was found in 16 patients, including 3 patients with residual tumor and 8 with recurrent tumor confirmed before esophagectomy, and 5 patients with new-found recurrent tumor. Conclusion In the treatment of early stage esophageal cancer or precancerosis, the major reasons for esophagectomy following ESD include esophageal stricture, abnormal esophageal dynamics, local residual or recurrence.
In this review, development and application of the minimally invasive esophagectomy(MIE) for esophageal cancer are discussed including the types of MIE procedures, short- and long- term outcome after MIE; as well the future of MIE is forecasted. Main procedures of MIE performed currently include esophagectomy via thoracoscopy and laparoscopy and cervical esophagogastrosty, Ivor-Lewis MIE via thoracoscopy and laparoscopy, and hiatal MIE. Ivor-Lewis MIE gradually becomes a standard surgical option for the cancer of distal esophagus or esophagogastric junction while the solution of intrathoracic anastomosis via thoracoscopy has achieved. Several methods of intrathoracic anastomosis are reported such as hand-sewn, circular stapler, side-to-side and triangular anastomosis. MIE could decrease operative blood loss, shorten hospital stay and ICU stay, reduce postoperative especially pulmonary complications, and harvest more lymph nodes compared to open esophagectomy. The long-term survival has been proved similar with that after open esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. MIE has developed rapidly in recent years with some aspects in future prospectively: individual MIE treatment and quality of life, fast track after surgery, and robot-assisted MIE, as well the endoscopic submucosal dissection for esophageal cancer is mentioned.
Objective To explore the short-term surgical outcomes of the modified surgical procedure for uniportal thoracoscopic right middle lobectomy. Methods In this modified approach, the incision was created at sixth or seventh intercostal space inferior to the subscapular angle. The surgeon stood on the opposite side of the operating table. The surgery was performed by serial division of the anterior oblique fissure, the vein, bronchus, artery, and horizontal fissure following the single-direction strategy. As for patients with malignant lesions, hilar and mediastinal lymph node dissection was performed. Clinical characteristics and early surgical outcomes were collected and analyzed. Results Fifty two patients with a mean age of 48 years were included in this study. There were 20 males and 32 females at an average age of 48.0±10.5 years. No conversion or perioperative mortality was occurred. Mean surgical time was 68.1±16.8 min, mean blood loss was 16.5±4.9 mL, median chest tube duration was 2 (2-22) d and median postoperative hospital stay was 3 (3-24) d. There was no intraoperative or postoperative complication but one patient developed postoperative prolonged air leak (>5 d). Mean postoperative visual-analog scale (VAS) on postoperative day 1, day 2 and day 3 was 1.5±0.8, 1.7±0.4, 0.8±0.7, respectively. Conclusions Trans-posterior-approach uniportal thoracoscopic single-direction RML is a safe, feasible, and effective procedure, which provides an appropriate direction and angle for dissection and stapling, solving the challenge of conventional uniportal RML lobectomy.
Objective To compare the distribution of drug concentration in lymph nodes and blood between lymphatic chemotherapy and single drug chemotherapy and to study if nano carbon can enhance the number of lymph node dissection. Methods From June 2015 to February 2016, 80 patients with esophageal cancer in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital were enrolled and they were divided into two groups: a lymphatic chemotherapy with paclitaxel (LCP) group and a paclitaxel alone (PTX) group. There were 35 males and 5 females with an average age of 60.63±8.78 years in the LCP group, and 30 males and 10 females with an average age of 62.13±7.89 years in the the PTX group. We observed the incidence rate of complications after operation, the number of lymph node dissection and the rate of lymph node metastasis. The drug concentration in the blood and lymph nodes between the two groups was compared. Results The postoperative morbidity did not increase in the both groups, which did not have adverse drug reactions such as bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal reaction and so on. The concentration of chemotherapy drug in lymph nodes in the LCP group was higher than that in the PTX group. The LCP group collected 771 lymph nodes, and the average number was 19.27±7.77 for each patient; the PTX group collected 658 lymph nodes, and the average number was 16.45±7.12 for each patient; but the difference between two groups was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion Nano carbon carriers can effectively improve the drug concentration in lymph nodes after the local injection of chemotherapy drugs. The use of nano carbon tracer in the operation to improve lymph node dissection may not have significance.
The severe situation of the spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) poses a huge challenge to the admission and management of patients undergoing selective thoracic surgery. In order to ensure that patients can receive surgical treatment in time, and we can effectively prevent the outbreak and spread of the disease in the surgical department, the department should comb the relevant content from multiple aspects in accordance with the specific situation. It is necessary to adopt a new admission process of patients undergoing selective surgery and COVID-19 investigation process for patients and their families during the epidemics. We should improve the companion and suspected patient management system during the epidemic. Patients who are planning to undergo surgery need to be strictly checked for COVID-19 infection before surgery. The treatment and management strategies of patients undergoing thoracic surgery in our department are summarized in this paper.