BACKGROUND: In the last decades an overwhelming increase in the incidence of esophagogastric transition adenocarcinomas has been observed. Jointly to this increase, there has also been progress in minimal invasive surgery. AIM: To relate the experience with video-assisted esophagectomy, transhiatal for the treatment of esophagogastric transition adenocarcinoma. METHODS: The technique was indicated to 30 patients, predominantly male (73%) with an average age of 55 years. After laparoscopic evaluation, 19 patients were operated on using the video-assisted technique. RESULTS: Surgical time varied between 4 and 5 hours. Toracic drains had to be applied in 12 patients (63%). Two (10,5%) had cervical anastomosis fistulas. One death occurred due to intratoracic fistula in the clamp line. Excluding this patient, post-operative state demonstrated three (16,7%) patients in stage I, two (11%) in stage IIa, three (16,7%) in IIb, six (33,3%) in III and four (22,2%) in stage IV. The overall life span was an average of 25,5 months (three to 105 months), and when categorized into stages, it reached 53,3 months up to stage IIa and 15,8 months in stage IIb or higher. CONCLUSION: Minimal invasive surgery can be an alternative in the treatment of esophagogastric transition adenocarcinoma.
Adenocarcinoma; Video-assisted surgery; Esophagus
