| Abstract: |
From 1961 to 1991, a total of 1,452 esophagectomies were performed for esophageal cancer at Memorial Sloan‐Kettering Cancer Center. Of these patients, 40 (2.7%) developed complications requiring a second operation during the same hospitalization. The majority of the carcinomas were located in the midesophagus or the gastroesophageal junction. The pathologic diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma in two‐thirds of the patients. Few comorbid factors could be identified. Twenty‐nine patients (72%) had a standard Ivor‐Lewis resection, 5 (12%) had a transhiatal resection, 5 (12%) had a transabdominal approach, and 1 (3%) had a cervical approach only. Complications requiring reoperation were the following: respiratory failure in 13 patients, anastomotic leak in 6, bowel obstruction in 5, major bleeding in 4, wound dehiscence in 4, tracheo‐esophageal fistula in 3, feeding tube malposition in 2, empyema in 1, chyle leak in 1, a positive margin in 1. Twelve of these same patients had a persistent or second complication and required a third operation. Among the 40 patients in this study, the mortality was 40%. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Copyright © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company |
