Improved surgical palliation of advanced carcinoma of the esophagus

Fifty-four patients with far-advanced carcinoma of the esophagus were operated on between the years 1974 and 1976. No attempts were made to resect the lesion. The stomach was used fifty-three times to bypass the lesion and the right colon was used once. In twenty-eight patients the stomach was placed substernally and the anastomosis was done in the neck. Twenty-five patients had the anastomosis to the esophagus done in the chest. The thirty day operative mortality was 7.4 per cent and the average survival was five months. These figures compared favorably with a group of thirty-five patients with far-advanced carcinoma of the esophagus seen between the years 1971 and 1973 and handled with a variety of modalities. In this group the thirty day mortality was 31.4 per cent (11/35) and the average survival was three and a half months.