Laparoscopic-Assisted Transhiatal Esophagogastrectomy Without Thoracic or Cervical Access: A Series of One Hundred...

To evaluate short-term and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic-assisted transhiatal esophagogastrectomy (LTEG) for treatment of adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG).

Patients with AEG who underwent laparoscopic or open surgery at our department from October 2008 to December 2012 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Patients' demographics, perioperative outcomes, and survival data were collected.

A total of 136 patients with AEG were enrolled (103 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery and 33 patients underwent open surgery). Patient characteristics were comparable between two groups in terms of age, gender, tumor-node-metastasis stage, tumor size, preoperative complications, and type of surgery. The median operative time was longer in laparoscopic group (240 versus 210 minutes, P = .048). However, the estimated blood loss was less, and the rate of pleural rupture was lower in laparoscopic group (20 versus 70 mL, P < .001 and 18.4% versus 36.4%, P = .033, respectively). The rate of patients with pleural rupture requiring prolonged use of mechanical ventilation longer than 12 hours (6/31, 19.4%) was higher than that of patients without pleural rupture (6/105, 5.7%) (P = .019). The incidence of reflux symptoms at postoperative month six was similar in two groups (18.4% in laparoscopic group versus 24.2% in open group, P = .468), as well as the use of proton pump inhibitors (12.6% versus 15.2%, P = .709). Furthermore, the number of lymph nodes harvested (22 versus 25), 2-year cumulative overall survival rates (80.4% versus 57.5%), and the median survival times (51.52 months versus 24.24 months) were similar between two groups (P > .05).

LTEG is a safe, feasible, and oncologically effective procedure for AEG when performed by an experienced surgeon. Laparoscopic surgery is associated with a lower risk of pleural rupture, but pleural rupture in laparoscopic surgery may cause an adverse effect on the recovery of pulmonary function presumably due to tension pneumothorax.