[Palliative methods permitting oral feeding in patients with carcinoma of the esophagus (author's transl)]

405 patient with carcinoma of the esophagus were operated on the unit from 1st January 1972 to 15th February 1977. Among these 405 patients, 55 underwent prolonged esophageal intubation and 24 a palliative operation. We considered successively the various methods of prolonged intubation and the various types of palliative operation possible. At the end of this study, it appears that palliative surgery for carcinoma of the esophagus owing to the severity of the operation and the high post-operative mortality and the doubtful functional results, should be reserved for eso-respiratory fistulas, per-operative loss of esophageal blood supply, and the contra-indications to prolonged intubation. On the other hand, it seems that the indications for prolonged intubation should be enlarged at the expense of those for gastrectomy, excluding however stenosing or too extensive carcinomas and carcinoma of the upper.