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OBJECTIVE: To determine whether early postoperative administration of erythromycin accelerates the spontaneous motor recovery process after elevation of the denervated whole stomach up to the neck. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Spontaneous motor recovery after gastric denervation is a slow process that progressively takes place over years. METHODS: Erythromycin was administered as follows: continuous intravenous (i.v.) perfusion until postoperative day 10 in ten whole stomach (WS) patients at a dose of either 1 g (n = 5) or 2 g (n = 5) per day; oral intake at a dose of 1 g/day during 1.5 to 8 months after surgery in 11 WS patients, followed in 7 of them by discontinuation of the drug during 2 to 4 weeks. Gastric motility was assessed with intraluminal perfused catheters in these 21 patients, in 23 WS patients not receiving erythromycin, and in 11 healthy volunteers. A motility index was established by dividing the sum of the areas under the curves of >9 mmHg contractions by the time of recording. RESULTS: The motility index after IV or oral administration of erythromycin at and after surgery was significantly higher than that without erythromycin (i.v., 1 g: p = 0.0090; i.v., 2 g: p = 0.0090; oral, 1 g: p = 0.0017). It was similar to that in healthy volunteers (i.v., 1 g: p = 0.2818; oral, 1 g: p = 0.7179) and to that in WS patients with >3 years of follow-up who never received erythromycin (i.v., 1 g: p = 0.2206; oral, 1 g: p = 0.8326). The motility index after discontinuation of the drug was similar or superior to that recorded under medication in four patients who did not experience any modification of their alimentary comfort, whereas it dropped dramatically parallel to deterioration of the alimentary comfort in three patients. CONCLUSIONS: Early postoperative contractility of the denervated whole stomach pulled up to the neck under either i.v. or oral erythromycin is similar to that recovered spontaneously beyond 3 years of follow-up. In some patients, this booster effect persists after discontinuation of the drug.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term outcome of patients with esophageal cancer after resection of the extraesophageal component of the neoplastic process en bloc with the esophageal tube. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Opinions are conflicting about the addition of extended resection of locoregional lymph nodes and soft tissue to removal of the esophageal tube. METHODS: Esophagectomy performed en bloc with locoregional lymph nodes and resulting in a real skeletonization of the nonresectable anatomical structures adjacent to the esophagus was attempted in 324 patients. The esophagus was removed using a right thoracic (n = 208), transdiaphragmatic (n = 39), or left thoracic (n = 77) approach. Lymphadenectomy was performed in the upper abdomen and lower mediastinum in all patients. It was extended over the upper mediastinum when a right thoracic approach was used and up to the neck in 17 patients. Esophagectomy was carried out flush with the esophageal wall as soon as it became obvious that a macroscopically complete resection was not feasible. Neoplastic processes were classified according to completeness of the resection, depth of wall penetration, and lymph node involvement. RESULTS: Skeletonizing en bloc esophagectomy was feasible in 235 of the 324 patients (73%). The 5-year survival rate, including in-hospital deaths (5%), was 35% (324 patients); it was 64% in the 117 patients with an intramural neoplastic process versus 19% in the 207 patients having neoplastic tissue outside the esophageal wall or surgical margins (P

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the denervated stomach as an esophageal substitute is an inert conduit or a contractile organ. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: The motor response of gastric transplants to deglutition suggests that the stomach pulled up to the neck acts as an inert organ. METHODS: The gastric motility of 11 healthy volunteers and 33 patients having either a gastric tube (GT) (n = 10) or their whole stomach (WS) (n = 23) as esophageal replacement was studied with perfused catheters during the fasting state, after a meal, and after intravenous administration of erythromycin lactobionate. A motility index was established for each period of recording by dividing the sum of the areas under the curves of all contractions of >9 mmHg by the time of recording. RESULTS: Over years, the denervated stomach recovers more and more motor activity, even displaying a real phase 3 motor pattern in 6 of the 10 WS patients and 1 of the 7 GT patients with >3 years of follow-up. Erythromycin lactobionate generates a phase 3-like motor pattern regardless of the length of follow-up. Extrinsic denervation of the whole stomach does not significantly modify the fasting motility index established >3 years after surgery (+17% on average, p > 0.05), but it reduces that in the fed period by an average of 62% (p = 0.0016). Tubulization of the denervated whole stomach lowers the fasting motility index by an average of 60% (p = 0.0248) and further impairs that in the fed period by an average of 67% (p = 0.0388). CONCLUSIONS: The denervated stomach as an esophageal substitute is a contractile organ that may even generate complete migrating motor complexes. Motor recovery is better in the fasting than in the fed period, and it is more marked in WS patients than in GT patients.

Seventy-five cirrhotic patients were submitted to peroperative hemodynamic investigations including flow and pressure studies. Sixty-two patients with hepatopedal portal flow underwent a therapeutic end-to-site portacaval shunt (PC) in conjunction with arterialization of the portal vein and 13 with a stagnant flow a PC shunt alone. Thirty-five patients were operated on in emergency and 40 electively. In 61 patients portal flow was correlated with maximum perfusion pressure (r=0.66), and in 33 patients with the reduction of corrected sinusoidal pressure induced by the occlusion of the portal vein (r=0.72). Operative mortality, which was 3.5% for 57 class A and B patients and 55.5% for 18 class C patients, differed significantly (p less than 0.05) in emergency between arterialized (14.8%) and nonarterialized patients (62.5%). At the time this study was ended on July 15, 1981, the follow-up was over two years for all the patients. The five-year actuarial survival rate of the arterialized patients was 48% for the whole group and 56% for class A and B patients; the overall incidence of chronic encephalopathy was 20%. It is concluded that arterialization is a safe surgical procedure that could be beneficial in respect with operative mortality in emergency, late survival, and tolerance to portacaval shunt. However, a prospective randomized study such as the one undertaken in December 1979 is the only method to prove clearly that arterialization is really able to minimize the risk of encephalopathy and to prolong the long-term survival after portacaval shunt.