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A considerable percentage of morbidity and mortality after oesophagectomy is due to leakage of oesophagogastrostomy, which is mainly caused by ischaemia of the gastric tube. Therefore, we performed laparoscopic real-time vessel navigation (LRTVN) using indocyanine green fluorescence (ICG) during laparoscopy-assisted gastric tube reconstruction (LAGR) to evaluate gastric tube blood flow and avoid vascular injury. This study included five oesophageal cancer patients who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic oesophagectomy and LAGR. We confirmed the presence of the left gastroepiploic artery (LGEA) in all cases, and no findings such as post-operative gastric tube ischaemia were observed. In all cases, no vascular injury was observed, and the vascularization of LGEA was confirmed. This report is the first to consider the usefulness of LRTVN using ICG during LAGR. LRTVN using ICG during LAGR was considered to be useful for evaluating gastric tube blood flow and avoiding vascular injury around the splenic hiatus.

Background An anti-reflux anastomosis “double-flap technique” was recently used to resolve severe reflux esophagitis after intrathoracic esophagogastrostomy performed following proximal gastrectomy and lower esophagectomy, for esophagogastric junction (EGJ) cancer. We describe thoracoscopic reconstruction procedure performed by using the “double-flap” technique, which involves the creation of seromuscular flap under direct vision. This case report aimed to report the usefulness of this intrathoracic anastomosis procedure, as it may be difficult to perform double-flap technique with intraperitoneal manipulation in EGJ cancer cases. Presentation of case A 58-year-old man was diagnosed with Siewert type II EGJ cancer. We performed laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy, lower esophagectomy, and thoracoscopic esophagogastrostomy using the anti-reflux double-flap technique in the prone position. This was achieved after careful dissection in the plane between the muscular and submucosal layers prior to replacing the remnant stomach into the abdominal cavity. The postoperative course was uneventful, with no symptoms of esophageal reflux after 21 months of surgery, even without medications. Discussion This procedure offers the advantage of minimal invasiveness and ensures adequate surgical margins when lower esophageal incisions are required. This minimally invasive procedure achieves anastomosis using the complete hand-sewn method to prevent reflux, under a good surgical field of view for dissection of the lower esophagus and mediastinal lymph nodes. Conclusions This procedure is very useful due to its minimal invasiveness, ease of thoracic procedure, and prevention of reflux in patients with EGJ cancer. To our knowledge, this is the first report of thoracoscopic esophagogastrostomy performed using the double-flap technique for EGJ cancer.