Significant disagreement and debate persist regarding several aspects of the optimal surgical management of oesophageal cancer. We address some of these issues based on our consecutive series of 165 patients undergoing oesophageal resection (reported in full elsewhere) and the available literature. The areas considered are controversial but we argue in favour of a 'traditional' two-stage open approach (Ivor-Lewis), leaving the pylorus alone, making no attempt to perform a radical lymphadenectomy and fashioning a hand sewn anastomosis.
KEYWORDSOesophagectomy -Ivor-Lewis -Oesophageal cancer -Gastro-oesophageal anastomosisPyloroplasty -Lymphadenectomy The aim of this paper is to outline and justify the approach we favour for oesophageal resection in malignant disease. In order to accomplish this aim, we draw on our own experience 1 and review of the relevant literature.
Surgical approachPerhaps because the oesophagus is present in the neck, the thorax and the abdomen, multiple surgical approaches (and combination of approaches) to oesophageal resection are described. Inevitably, there is controversy over the optimal approach. We favour a laparotomy and right lateral thoracotomy. This is preferred to other approaches such as a threestage, transhiatal or minimally invasive oesophagectomy (MIO).In the three-stage (McKeown) approach, gastro-oesophagectomy is followed by a further cervical incision and an anastomosis fashioned in the neck. We are unable to identify any compelling argument to support this approach. It is claimed that anastomosis is technically easier in the neck than in the chest. In south Wales, the majority of patients with oesophageal cancer are overweight with a barrel chest and a short neck. In our experience, no matter how high in the chest it located, an intrathoracic anastomosis is unarguably technically easier than in the neck.It is also argued that anastomotic leakage following cervical anastomosis is less dangerous than in the chest. Not all oesophageal surgeons accept this. There is evidence that a cervical anastomosis often comes to lie in the upper part of the thoracic cavity.2 Since our rate of anastomotic leakage is, fortunately, very low (overall leak rate 1.2%, clinical leak rate 0.6%), this is not an issue in our practice.A further potential argument in favour of the three-stage approach is a greater proximal resection margin; the advantage has been estimated at 1cm.2 No patient in our series had an involved proximal margin, which suggests that adequate clearance can be obtained with an intrathoracic approach. The majority of the available evidence suggests that the rate of benign anastomotic stricture is significantly lower in intrathoracic than in cervical anastomoses.3-5 (See 'Anastomotic technique' section below.) We can identify no advantages to a three-stage procedure. In our series of 165 patients, access to the neck was needed in only two patients who developed significant complications. It is claimed that a transhiatal approach to oesophageal resection is associated wi...