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Abstract Background The optimal choice of anastomotic technique for cervical esophagogastric anastomosis after esophagectomy remains unclear. The incidence of cervical anastomotic leak after esophagectomy can be up to 30%, which is the highest among all types of gastrointestinal anastomosis. Anastomotic stricture is another complication that can decrease the postoperative quality of life with an incidence of 9.1–46.0%. Few studies directly compared circular stapled (CS) and hand sewn (HS) cervical esophago-gastric anastomosis, with mixed results. We aim to compare the two techniques in a pre-post cohort study. Methods Medical record of all patients that underwent minimally invasive subtotal esophagectomy and cervical esophago-gastrostomy in our institution from January 2018 to January 2024 were reviewed from a prospectively collected database. We routinely performed hand sawn anastomoses until February 2022, then switched to circular stapled, with the aim of reducing the incidence of anastomotic leaks. We compared clinical data of patients who received hand sewn cervical anastomosis and circular stapled anastomosis. Primary endpoints were anastomotic leaks and strictures. Results We identified 101 patients who met the inclusion criteria. HS anastomosis was performed in 67 patients, while 34 received CS anastomosis. Anastomotic leak rate was 22.4% in the HS group and 8.8% in the CS group (OR 0.34, p=0.092). Anastomotic stricture rate was 26.9% in the HS group and 14.7% in the CS group (OR 0.47, p=0.17). Median length of stay was 18 (IQR 15-22) days in the HS group and 13.5 (IQR 12-14.5) days in the CS group (p=0.001). Severe complication rate (CD2) was 16.4% in the HS group and 11.8% in the CS group (OR 0.68, p=0.53). Conclusions In our experience, the introduction of circular stapled cervical esophago-gastrostomy was feasible and safe, and resulted in a lower incidence of anastomotic leak and stricture compared to hand sewn anastomosis, though not statistically significant, possibly because of the small sample size. No difference in other major postoperative outcomes was observed. We found cervical CS anastomosis a reliable, reproducible and technically less demanding procedure, even for very high esophageal cancers. We believe that this anastomotic technique could spread even in Western countries where it has hardly ever been explored.
Pansa et al. (Sun,) studied this question.