Esophagectomy: Ten years experience at the Hospital of San José. 1991-2001

Esofagectomía: Experiencia de diez años en el Hospital de San José. 1991-2001

The present study reviews the experience during ten years in the Hospital of San José, in patients who underwent transhiatal or transthoracic esophagectomy, for both malignant and benign disease. The purpose is to compare the results obtained in our series with other larger ones reported in the literature. We reviewed the medical records of those who underwent the aforementioned procedures, in the period from 1991 to 2001. We included 17 patients, 16 men and one woman; three of them with benign lesions and 14 with malignant disease, the most frequent histological variant being adenocarcinoma. The predominant symptoms were dysphagia and weight loss. Twelve transhiatal and three transthoracic procedures were performed, with 35% postoperative complications, including esophagogastric anastomosis fistula, pneumonia and arrhythmias. The intraoperative bleeding was on average 1200 mL. It is unfortunate that our study did not have any follow-up, so it is impossible to objectively evaluate the results in the medium and long term. The sample obtained was very small, which is why we believe that new research should be carried out with a larger population.

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