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Background: Surgery is the main treatment for esophageal cancer, but postoperative incision pain seriously reduces patients' quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of preemptive analgesia of the upper abdomen with ropivacaine in the "non-tube no fasting" fast track recovery program for esophageal carcinoma., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients who underwent minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) from February 2014 to August 2014. Patients in the study group underwent a conventional analgesia program together with local infiltration injection of ropivacaine in the upper abdominal incision 30 min before the operation, while patients in the control group underwent the conventional analgesia program alone. Ropivacaine was injected locally around the planned surgical incision, including intradermally, subcutaneously, in the fascial muscles, and in the parietal peritoneum layers. Li's anastomosis method was performed in the neck after MIE. No indwelling chest tube or abdominal cavity tube was placed in any patients. The use of analgesic pumps in the two groups of patients was recorded., Results: A total of 102 patients were enrolled in the study, with 52 patients in the study group and 50 patients in the control group. Patients in both groups completed the surgery successfully as planned, and the anesthesia methods and drugs used during the operation were the same. The surgical duration, blood loss, and the number of resected lymph nodes did not differ significantly between the two groups. Three patients in the study group and 10 patients in the control group used analgesia pumps (P=0.031). The visual analog scale (VAS) score at 30 days after surgery in the group with preemptive analgesia was significantly better than that in the control group (P=0.048)., Conclusions: Preemptive analgesia for the upper abdomen with ropivacaine in the "non-tube no fasting" fast track recovery program for esophageal carcinoma is feasible and worthy of promotion., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://atm.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/atm-21-4988/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Background: Esophageal cancer in China accounts for nearly half of the global esophageal cancer cases. The relationship between the occurrence of postoperative complications of esophageal cancer surgery and seasonal changes is not clear. Our purpose is to clarify the relationship between postoperative complications of esophageal cancer and season, so as to reduce the incidence of complications., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients undergoing esophageal cancer surgery in our hospital between January 2013 and December 2014. Patients were divided into the summer group (March-August) and the non-summer group (September-February) according to the seasonal climate. Pulmonary, cardiac, and other complications were recorded. Differences in postoperative complications were compared between the two groups by the chi-squared test., Results: In the 251 patients enrolled, the total postoperative complication rate was 37.8%. The occurrence of incision complications in the summer group was significantly higher than that in the non-summer group (10.1% vs. 3.5%, P=0.044). Pulmonary and cardiac complications in summer group were significantly rarer than those in the non-summer group (16.7% vs. 27.4%, P=0.039; and 8.0% vs. 16.8%, P=0.032, respectively)., Conclusions: During the warm months of the year, clinicians should focus on preventing postoperative incision complications, and they should focus on preventing pulmonary and cardiac complications during the cold months., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://atm.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/atm-21-5050/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

The main obstacle of fast track surgery for esophagectomy is early oral feeding. The main concern of early oral feeding is the possibility of increasing the incidence of anastomotic leakage. Dr. Yin Li used the Li's anastomosis to ensure oral feeding at will the first day after esophagectomy. This safe and efficient anastomosis method significantly reduced the anastomotic leak rate, the number of post-operative days and stricture. Importantly, the "non-tube no fasting" fast track program for esophageal cancer patients was conducted smoothly with Li's anastomosis. This article was focused on the surgical procedure of Li's anastomosis.