Quality of life after an esophagectomy

Specialized centers have reduced the adverse outcomes associated with esophagectomy in the last 2 decades and now report operative mortalities of less than 5%. With the expanding use of screening endoscopy, early invasive esophageal adenocarcinoma is diagnosed more commonly. As a result, more patients enjoy long-term survival after curative resection. Simultaneously, emerging evidence supports the equivalence of competing endoscopic therapies for treatment of very early cancers and benign diseases. Accordingly, surgical resection requires re-evaluation using enhanced parameters to enable more meaningful comparative outcome analyses. This article summarizes the current evidence and examines future directions regarding esophagectomy quality of life.