Minimum Esophageal Resection Length to Ensure Negative Proximal Margin in Total Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer: A Retrospective Study

OBJECTIVE: To identify the minimum length of esophageal resection to ensure a pathologically negative proximal margin (PM) in total gastrectomy for gastric cancer. BACKGROUND: In total gastrectomy, a certain esophageal length is resected to obtain a pathologically negative PM because of the possibility of unexpected pathological esophageal invasion. However, a recommendation regarding the esophageal transection site in total gastrectomy has not been established. METHODS: The data of patients who underwent total gastrectomy for gastric cancer from 2005 to 2018 were collected. We evaluated the length of unexpected pathological esophageal invasion (esophageal ΔPM) in each type of disease and each location of the gross proximal tumor boundary (PB) using the length between the PB and the esophagogastric junction (PB-EGJ length). RESULTS: Of the 1005 patients eligible for this study, 277, 196, and 532 had cT1, cT2–4 expansive (Exp), and cT2–4 infiltrative (Inf) growth patterns, respectively. In cT1 and Exp, no unexpected pathological esophageal invasion occurred when the PB-EGJ length was >1 cm, whereas pathological esophageal invasion occurred in 20.0% of cT1 and 32.7% of Exp when the PB-EGJ length was ≤1 cm. The esophageal ΔPM was <1 cm. In Inf, no unexpected pathological esophageal invasion occurred when the PB-EGJ length was >3 cm, whereas pathological esophageal invasion occurred in 17.4% of patients when the PB-EGJ length was ≤3 cm. The esophageal ΔPM was <2 cm. CONCLUSIONS: New recommendations regarding the esophageal resection length required to ensure a pathologically negative PM in total gastrectomy are herein proposed.