[Surgery for upper gastrointestinal diseases in cirrhotic patients]

Outcomes of surgery for gastric cancer or esophageal cancer in cirrhotic patients are not favorable. The preoperative assessment of liver function utilizing Child's classification or indocyanine green (ICG) excretion test can be a predictive factor of postoperative mortality. Operative risk is acceptable if patients are classified as Child's class A, and surgical procedures should be avoided in patients either classified as Child's class C or having ICG-R15 of 25% or more. To avoid postoperative complications, it is important to minimize the operative procedure and to ligate vessels instead of using electrocautery. Surgical stress and risk can further be reduced by a two stage operation for esophageal cancer and by gastrectomy with reduced lymph node dissection of D1 for gastric cancer. However, because curability of existing cancer is also required for surgical procedures, the status of liver cirrhosis and the stage of cancers should be considered in surgical treatment of gastric cancer or esophageal cancer in patients with liver cirrhosis.