Effectiveness of combined thoracoscopic–laparoscopic esophagectomy: comparison of postoperative complications and midterm oncological outcomes in patients with esophageal cancer

Abstract

Unlike TE, TLE was associated with fewer postoperative complications than was OE, with no compromise of 2-year RFS. A randomized controlled trial with longer follow-up is needed.

Is the Prognostic Impact of Tumor Location in Patients with<b> </b>Surgically Resected Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Affected by Surgical Approach?

“…Law et al [7 ]and Li et al [8] reported that the UE showed a less favorable prognosis compared with lower ESCC, because lymph node dissection around the tracheal tree and recurrent laryngeal nerve was difficult, and a more meticulous dissection of bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve nodes might improve the prognosis. In addition, several recent reports have suggested that thoracoscopic esophagectomy might increase the number of harvested recurrent nerve nodes, and they argued that thoracoscopic esophagectomy provided a magnified field allowing more precise surgical manipulations [16,17,18,19,20]. Furthermore, positive recurrent laryngeal nerve nodes were observed more frequently in the UE group, as mentioned above.…”

“…The number of dissected recurrent laryngeal nodes was increased in the thoracoscopic approach group compared with the open thoracotomy group, as described in our previous report [20]. In addition, the feasibility of thoracoscopic esophagectomy in the prognostic analysis was suggested in previous reports, and it seems proper to use both data from open thoracic and thoracoscopic esophagectomy in the prognostic analysis [17,18,19,20]. While tumor location still had no significant prognostic impact by surgical approach group, the UE tended to show a more favorable prognosis in thoracoscopic surgery.…”

Implementation of minimally invasive esophagectomy in a tertiary referral center for esophageal cancer

“…MIE is believed to minimize the surgical trauma and subsequently the postoperative pain resulting in a faster mobilization and recovery with reduced postoperative complication rates and shorter hospital stay compared to the open procedure. During the last 20 years several studies have been published within the field demonstrating that MIE is a safe technique with an oncological outcome at least equal to open esophagectomy with regard to complete resection rate, number of lymph nodes harvested and postoperative survival (7)(8)(9). Moreover, there is an indication of shortterm benefits after MIE especially with regards to reduced pulmonary complications and improved health related quality of life compared to the open procedure (10,11).…”

Current Status and Future Prospects for Esophageal Cancer Treatment

“…Furthermore, certain retrospective studies have shown that the oncological effectiveness of thoracoscopic surgery is comparable to that of open thoracotomy. [37][38][39] Thomson et al 38) reported that VATS-esophagectomy provides adequate locoregional control of VATS-esophagectomy comparable to that of open surgery. Also, a comparative study of the prone position (PP) versus the lateral decubitus position (LDP) for VATS-esophagectomy reported that the estimated median intraoperative blood loss was significantly less in the PP group as compared with the LDP group, and the PP group experienced fewer respiratory complications than did the LDP group.…”