Gastric tube reconstruction prevents postoperative recurrence and metastasis of esophageal cancer.

Esophagectomy is the main method of treating patients with esophageal cancer. Tubular stomach and whole stomach approaches may be used for esophagectomy. However, it is not known to what extent these surgical methods are associated with postoperative recurrence and metastasis. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of the tubular and whole stomach approaches on postoperative recurrence and metastasis in esophageal cancer patients. One hundred and twenty-one patients that were diagnosed with esophageal cancer by gastroscopic biopsy between March 2010 and March 2011 in Taian Central Hospital, China, were recruited into this study. There were 67 cases in the gastric tube group and 54 cases in whole stomach group. All of the patients underwent esophagectomy and there were no mortalities during surgery. All patients completed the follow-up period. The rates of recurrence or metastasis 1 and 2 years after surgery in the gastric tube group were observed to be lower than those in the whole stomach group. The two-year survival rates of the gastric tube group and whole stomach group were 80 and 61%, respectively. There was a significant difference in the survival rate between the two groups (P=0.016). In conclusion, this study suggests that esophageal cancer patients may gain a mid-term benefit from gastric tube reconstruction.