Abstracts
1998 Digestive Disease Week

#967

VIDEOSURGERY ESOPHAGECTOMY. HW Pinotti, CE Domene, MA Santo, P Volpe, P Onari, F Atui - Digestive Surgery Department. University of São Paulo Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Controversial aspects remain surrounding the proper contribution of video surgery in staging and surgical treatment of esophageal diseases. Five patients with esophageal neoplasia were treated by thoracoscopy/laparoscopy/ cervicotomy, and five with advanced achalasia through laparoscopic/ cervicotomy approach, between 1995 and 1997; median age was 56 years. No complications were observed in the patients operated on for benign disorders. Two complications ocurred in the malignant group: one drainage of ascitis through the chest drain (patient with liver cirrhosis) and one partial dehiscence of the gastric tube (patient with malnutrition), treated in a conservative manner. The patients were discharged from the hospital after 7 to 10 days. One patient with advanced cancer died two months after operation with carcinomatosis. Those who underwent thoracoscopy and thoracic draining complained of pain and difficulty in locomotion. These patients benefited less from the relative advantages of the use of a minimally invasive surgical access.

Copyright 1996 - 1998, SSAT, Inc. Revised 29 June 1998.