INTRODUCTION: We aimed to retrospectively evaluate the first period patient portfolio and surgical outcomes, difficulties in operations, morbidity, and early mortality rates in minimally invasive esophagectomy procedures in a clinic with high experience in gastrointestinal minimally invasive surgery.
METHODS: The records of fifteen esophageal cancer patients who underwent minimally invasive laparoscopic/robotic-thoracoscopic esophagectomy between November 2019 and July 2024 in our Gastroenterology Surgery Clinic were retrospectively reviewed.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 61.2 (42-74) years. Ten patients (66.6%) were male, and five patients (33.3%) were female. The tumor locations were 1 (6%) in the upper esophagus, 5(36%) in the middle esophagus, and 9 (60%) in the lower esophagus. Eleven (73.4%) patients were operated on laparoscopically-thoracoscopically, and four (16.6%) patients were operated on robotic-thoracoscopically. Total esophagectomy - cervical anastomosis (McKeown) was performed in 13 (86.6%) patients. Subtotal esophagectomy - intrathoracic anastomosis (Ivor Lewis) was performed in 2 (13.4%) patients. Two patients with intrathoracic anastomosis were in the laparoscopy group.
The mean operation time was 280.53(180-464) minutes. The mean intraoperative bleeding was 200.33 (50-550) ml. The mean intensive care unit (ICU) stay was 3.26(1-27) days, and the mean ward stay was 7.26 (0-11) days. One (6%) of our patients followed up in the ICU in the early postoperative period resulted in mortality.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We believe that in clinics experienced in gastrointestinal system (GIS) and minimally invasive surgery, sufficient experience can be achieved with smaller patient series in the transition to minimally invasive esophagectomy.