Clinical analysis of tubular stapler-assisted nested anastomosis in the prevention of postoperative esophageal cancer complications

BACKGROUND: Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common malignant tumor types. Surgery is considered the treatment of choice for patients with early- and mid-stage EC. However, because of the traumatic nature of EC surgery and the need for gastrointestinal reconstruction, high rates of postoperative complications such as anastomotic leakage or stenosis, esophageal reflux, and pulmonary infection exist. Its time to explore a novel esophagogastric anastomosis method for McKeown EC surgery to reduce the postoperative complication. METHODS: This study recruited a total of 544 patients who underwent McKeown resection for EC between January 2017 and August 2020. The tubular stapler-assisted nested anastomosis was taken as the time node, including 212 patients in the traditional tubular mechanical anastomosis group and 332 patients in the tubular stapler-assisted nested anastomosis group. The 6-month postoperative incidence of anastomotic fistula and anastomotic stenosis was recorded. Anastomosis in McKeown operation for EC and the influence of different anastomosis methods on clinical efficacy were investigated. RESULTS: Compared with traditional mechanical anastomosis, tubular stapler-assisted nested anastomosis had a lower incidence of anastomotic fistula (0% vs. 5.2%), lung infection (3.3% vs. 11.8%), gastroesophageal reflux (6.9% vs. 16.0%), anastomotic stenosis (3.0% vs. 10.4%), neck incision infection (0.9% vs. 7.1%), anastomositis (16.6% vs. 23.6%), and a shorter surgical duration (11.02±1.54 vs. 18.53±3.20 min). Statistical significance was indicated at P<0.05. No significant difference was detected in the incidence of arrhythmia, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, or chylothorax between the 2 groups. Due to its good effect in McKeown surgery for EC, stapler-assisted nested anastomosis has been widely used in McKeown surgery for EC, and has become a common anastomosis method in our department for McKeown surgery for EC. However, large sample-sized studies and long-term efficacy observation are still needed. CONCLUSIONS: The use of tubular stapler-assisted nested anastomosis can significantly reduce the incidence of complications such as anastomotic fistula, anastomotic stricture, gastroesophageal reflux, and pulmonary infection; therefore, it constitutes the preferred technique for cervical anastomosis in McKeown esophagogastrectomy.