Long-term survival after excision of a giant esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumor with imatinib mesylate resistance: report of a case.

A 69-year-old woman underwent 4 months of imatinib mesylate chemotherapy for a diagnosed gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the esophagus. This treatment was suspended because of its side effects and because radiological examinations showed that the tumor had not changed or had even increased slightly in size. Thus, we performed esophagectomy via left thoracotomy and removed a tumor that measured 18 × 17 × 10 cm. Immunohistochemical examination revealed positive reactions for c-kit and CD34, suggestive of a high-risk malignancy. The patient was discharged from hospital on postoperative day 30, and has remained well with no sign of tumor recurrence for more than 5 years, without adjuvant chemotherapy.

Surgical resection for cancer located mainly in the lower esophagus.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of the present study was to clarify the results and feasibility of surgical approaches for cancer, which is mainly occupied by squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), of the lower esophagus. METHODOLOGY: Forty-four patients (34 men, 10 women) with cancer located at the lower esophagus were enrolled in this study. SCC was diagnosed in 36 cases and adenocarcinoma (ADC) in 8 cases. Thirteen patients underwent transhiatal esophagectomy, 18 underwent lower thoracic esophagectomy by left thoracotomy, and 13 underwent esophagectomy with a right thoracic approach by open thoracotomy or thoracoscopy. RESULTS: Ten cases (ADC, n = 2; SCC, n = 8) showed involvement of mediastinal lymph nodes, although lymph node dissection varied with each surgical approach. Five-year survival rates were 75% for ADC and 31.9% for SCC, and ADC tended to be associated with a more favorable prognosis than SCC (p = 0.058). Transhiatal esophagectomy was performed more often in older patients (p < 0.05), but no other clinicopathological parameters appeared to affect the selection of surgical approach. No significant prognostic differences existed between surgical approaches (p = 0.35), even though the examination was limited to SCC (p = 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: No significant prognostic differences were identified between transhiatal and left and right transthoracic approaches for lower esophageal cancer.

Free jejunal graft repair after pharyngolaryngo-esophagectomy-risk factor analysis for postoperative dysphagia.

PURPOSE: Reconstruction with free jejunal graft (FJG) has been widely accepted for patients undergone pharyngo-cervical esophageal resection. Those patients often suffer variety of complications regarding postoperative peros function. We investigated risk factors especially focused on the development of dysphagia after FJG reconstruction. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted using clinical chart review of 30 consecutive patients who underwent reconstruction with a FJG after pharyngo-laryngoesophagectomy from 1995 to 2010. Mortality, morbidity, and postoperative dysphagia were investigated. Dysphagia was defined when the patients required enteral nutrition until later than 1 month postoperatively without any other complications, including anastomotic leakage, anastomotic stricture, FJG ischemic necrosis, and hospital death. Data on potential clinical factors were extracted and the relation of these variables to postoperative dysphagia was examined by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: There was one patient with hospital death over total 30 patients who deceased due to fatal postoperative bleeding from arterial anastomosis of FJG. Postoperative complications occurred in 14 patients (46.7%) those included respiratory complication in 5, anastomotic leakage 3, FJG ischemic necrosis 2, paralytic ileus 2, ischemic change of tracheostomy 2, anastomotic stricture 1 and dysphagia 9. Dysphagia was the most frequent in this series. Multivariate analysis demonstrated induction radiation (≥60 Gy) was independently significant factors for postoperative dysphagia. CONCLUSION: FJG reconstruction may be safe and functionally satisfactory surgical option after pharyngo-laryngo-esophagectomy. Postoperative dysphagia may be induced prior radiation therapy.

Successful Treatment of Septic Shock due to Spontaneous Esophageal Perforation 96 Hours after Onset by Drainage and Enteral Nutrition.

Spontaneous esophageal perforation is relatively uncommon, but carries a high mortality rate if diagnosis or treatment is delayed. We report the case of a 68-year-old man with spontaneous esophageal perforation who was successfully treated over 96 h after onset by thoracic drainage and jejunostomy for enteral nutrition. He vomited after drinking alcohol, soon followed by epigastralgia. Heart failure was suspected on admission to another hospital. Spontaneous esophageal perforation was diagnosed 48 h after admission. Chest tube drainage was performed, but his general condition deteriorated and he was transferred to our hospital. Emergent surgery was performed and esophageal perforation combined with pyothorax and mediastinitis was identified on the left side of the lower esophagus. The left thoracic cavity was rinsed and thoracic drainage was performed. Feeding jejunostomy was performed for postoperative enteral nutrition. Effective drainage and sufficient nutrition management appear extremely valuable in treating spontaneous esophageal perforation.

Restoration of Train-of-Four Ratio with Neostigmine After Insufficient Recovery with Sugammadex in a Patient with Myasthenia Gravis.

We present a patient with myasthenia gravis in whom sugammadex failed to restore the train-of-four ratio (TOFR) sufficiently. When the patient's TOFR count had recovered to 2, we administered 2 mg/kg of sugammadex. However, the TOFR did not recover to the preoperative value. An additional 2 mg/kg of sugammadex also had no effect. We then administered 30 µg/kg of neostigmine which restored the TOFR to more than the preoperative value. We speculate that exacerbation of myasthenia symptoms during surgery interfered with recovery of TOFR after sugammadex administration.

Number of metastasis-positive lymph node stations is a simple and reliable prognostic factor following surgery in patients with esophageal cancer.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of lymph node metastasis classification based on the number of positive stations in patients undergoing surgical management of esophageal cancer. Of 257 patients who underwent curative esophagectomy, 126 patients with lymph node involvement underwent assessment of nodal metastasis mode according to the 7th edition of the TNM classification (UICC), and the Japanese Guidelines for the Clinical and Pathological Studies on Carcinoma of the Esophagus. Lymph node metastasis mode was divided into single station (S) and multi-station (M) groups. The S group was subclassified into single-node-single-station (SS) or multi-node-single-station (MS), and the M group was subclassified into multi-station in pN1 (2 metastasis positive nodes; MM-pN1) or multi-station in pN2 or 3 (MM-pN2,3) by TNM classification, multi-station-single-area (MMS) or multi-station-multi-areas (MMM). The correlation between prognosis and lymph node metastasis mode was assessed. A total of 47 patients were classified as S (MS, n=11; SS, n=36), and 79 patients were classified as M (MM-pN1, n=12; MM-pN2,3, n=67; MMM, n=55; MMS, n=24). Prognosis was poorer among the M- than in the S-classified patients (p=0.0035), whereas prognosis was not significantly different between the subgroups. In conclusion, lymph node metastasis classification based on the number of metastasis-positive stations is a useful predictor of prognosis in patients undergoing surgical management of esophageal cancer. This system relies on a simple classification method that combines the Japanese classification based on lymphatic spread and the TNM classification based on the number of positive lymph nodes.