Esophageal reconstruction for complex benign esophageal disease.

We report the cases of 35 patients with complex benign esophageal disease who required radical surgical reconstruction. These patients had undergone 63 previous esophageal operations. Twenty-seven patients required esophagogastrectomy, four had esophageal exclusion before colon interposition, two had cardioplasty, and two without stricture did not require resection. Reconstruction was achieved by esophagogastrostomy in six patients, colon interposition in eight, and acid suppression and alkaline diversion in 21. One patient died of pneumonia 2 weeks after esophagogastrostomy. The overall rate of postoperative improvement was 70%, but the condition of 86% of patients was improved after the acid-suppression and alkaline-diversion procedure, which is the reconstructive procedure we prefer in properly selected patients with complex benign esophageal disease.