Ivor Lewis Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy - What Do We Choose? Literature Review.

PURPOSE: The transition from open esophagectomy to Ivor Lewis to minimally invasive surgery has been gradual through hybrid approaches. The aim of this study was to present a comparison of the current variants of minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed to analyze the technical features of minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy and their postoperative results. The research was performed in the PubMed and Medscape databases with the keywords Ivor Lewis minimally invasive esophagectomy, gastric tube, esogastric anastomosis, and the selection of articles was performed taking into account the technical variance used and the results obtained. Results: The research of the data in the literature shows that there is currently a consensus of the essential steps in the Ivor Lewis technique, but their performance allows the use of different options, each surgeon taking into account primarily their own experience and existing facilities in each hospital. Although, over time, there have been multiple transformations of some steps in the basic technique, currently there are still conflicting opinions on certain aspects of the surgical technique, all of which are motivated by research undertaken to improve postoperative results. Conclusions: Ivor Lewis Minimally invasive esophagectomy further raises debatable issues on the practical way to perform the essential steps of the technique; their clarification could lead to finding the optimal option.

PD-L1 Expression in Esophageal and Gastroesophageal Junction Carcinoma, Correlation with the Immune Infiltrate - Preliminary Study.

Background: Although traditional management for esophageal and esogastric cancer has been improved, survival at 5 years is still low, and immunotherapy could be a way to improve it. In addition to the predictive value of the response to immunotherapy, PD-L1 also has a known prognostic value. We aimed to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of PD-L1, CD8+ T-cell, and CD4/CD25+ T-cell (Tregs) infiltration and their relationship in esophageal and gastroesophageal junction carcinoma. Material and Methods: Endoscopic biopsies were analyzed in 14 patients with esophageal cancer or esogastric junction, before starting the neoadjuvant treatment, hospitalized from the period 2019- to 2021 in the St. Mary's Clinical Hospital, Bucharest. Immunohistochemical tests were performed to investigate the expression of lymphocyte intratumoral infiltrate markers. Results: Of the 14 cases, 13 (93%) were male, and 1 (7%) were female. Histological, 4 cases were adenocarcinomas, and 10 cases were squamous cell carcinomas. 10 cases showed epithelial PD-L1 positivity (78%). Using a quantitative evaluation of PD-L1 we obtained a statistical correlation between the median values of this marker with the expression of CD8. There was obtained a statistical correlation between PD-L1 positivity and low expression of CD4 or CD4+/CD25 T cells. Conclusions: PD-L1 is expressed in tumors with higher CD8+ T cell densities and lower CD4/CD25 positive cells (Tregs), indicating that the good prognosis of PD-L1-positive tumors could be due to the inhibition of CD4 / CD25-positive cells (Tregs) rather than the stimulation of CD8-positive T cells, by an adaptive immune resistance mechanism.