Predicting Successful Laparoendoscopic Transhiatal Esophagectomy (THE) by Mediastinal Height Measurement

Laparoendoscopic transhiatal esophagectomy (THE) provides advantages over traditional THE by not only avoiding laparotomy but by also allowing more precise esophageal mobilization. Occasionally, the length of the gastric conduit is insufficient to allow delivery into the neck after laparoscopic mobilization and requires laparotomy to complete the procedure. We hypothesize that the need for laparotomy will correlate with the measurement of mediastinal height (distance from thoracic vertebrae T1-T12) on chest CT.

Medical records of all patients who underwent attempted laparoendoscopic-assisted THE at a tertiary referral center between March 1, 2003 and January 31, 2019 were reviewed. Patients' mediastinal height was measured using computed tomography (CT) imaging of the chest by investigators and analyzed for correlation between mediastinal height and successful completion of a totally laparoendoscopic procedure.

A total of 21 cases met inclusion criteria: 9 successful laparoendoscopic THE procedures and 12 failed laparoendoscopic THE procedures (those requiring addition of a mini-laparotomy or thoracotomy). The mean mediastinal length for successful laparoendoscopic surgery was 23.5 cm, whereas the mean mediastinal length for failed laparoscopic surgeries was 24.8 cm (P = .03). Patient's overall height was not found to correlate with the need for conversion.

Shorter mediastinal length is associated with successful laparoendoscopic or laparoscopic THE. This information is readily available to clinicians from routine preoperative staging studies (chest CT) and may be used to potentially predict the success rate of a totally laparoendoscopic approach and aid in patient selection. Further prospective evaluation of these findings is warranted.