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William Mitchell,1,* Thomas Roser,1,* Jessica Heard,2 Shankar Logarajah,2 John Ok,1,2 John Jay,2 Houssam Osman,1,2 D Rohan Jeyarajah1,2 1Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA; 2Methodist Richardson Medical Center, Richardson, TX, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: D Rohan Jeyarajah, Tel +1 972 619 3500, Email rohanjeyarajah@tcu.eduBackground: Esophagectomy traditionally has high levels of perioperative morbidity and mortality due to surgical techniques and case complexity. While thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) is considered first-line for postoperative analgesia after esophagectomy, complications can arise related to its sympathectomy and mobility impairment. Additionally, it has been shown that postoperative outcomes are improved with early extubation following esophagectomy. Our aim is to describe the impact of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks on extubation rates following esophagectomy when uncoupled from TEA.Methods: This is a case series of 42 patients who underwent trans-hiatal esophagectomy between 2019 and 2022 who received a TAP block without TEA. The primary outcomes of interest were the rates of extubation within the operating room (OR) and reintubation. Secondary outcomes included: intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay (LOS), opioid pain medication use, post-operative hypotension, fluid administration, postoperative pain scores, development of anastomotic leak, and 30-day readmission.Results: The mean age at operation was 63 years and 97.6% of patients were represented by American Society of Anesthesia (ASA) physical status class III or IV. Thirty-four (81%) patients immediately extubated postoperatively. Nine patients (21.4%) underwent reintubation during their hospital course. Only seven patients (16.7%) required vasopressors postoperatively. The median LOS was five days in the ICU and 10 days in the hospital. TAP block alone was found to be equivalent to TAP with additional regional blocks (TAP+) on the basis of immediate extubation, reintubation, ICU and hospital LOS, and reported postoperative pain.Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated immediate extubation is possible using TAP blocks while limiting post-operative hypotension and fluid administration. This was shown despite the elevated comorbidity burden of this study’s population. Overall, this study supports the use of TAP blocks as a possible alternative for primary analgesia in patients undergoing trans-hiatal esophagectomy.Trial Registration: This study includes participants who were retrospectively registered. IRB# 037.HPB.2018.R.Keywords: trans-hiatal, esophagectomy, transversus abdominis plane, TAP, quadratus lumborum, QL, block, epidural, ERAS, analgesia

Background: Laparoendoscopic transhiatal esophagectomy (THE) provides advantages over traditional THE by not only avoiding laparotomy but by also allowing more precise esophageal mobilization. Occasionally, the length of the gastric conduit is insufficient to allow delivery into the neck after laparoscopic mobilization and requires laparotomy to complete the procedure. We hypothesize that the need for laparotomy will correlate with the measurement of mediastinal height (distance from thoracic vertebrae T1-T12) on chest CT.Methods: Medical records of all patients who underwent attempted laparoendoscopic-assisted THE at a tertiary referral center between March 1, 2003 and January 31, 2019 were reviewed. Patients' mediastinal height was measured using computed tomography (CT) imaging of the chest by investigators and analyzed for correlation between mediastinal height and successful completion of a totally laparoendoscopic procedure.Results: A total of 21 cases met inclusion criteria: 9 successful laparoendoscopic THE procedures and 12 failed laparoendoscopic THE procedures (those requiring addition of a mini-laparotomy or thoracotomy). The mean mediastinal length for successful laparoendoscopic surgery was 23.5 cm, whereas the mean mediastinal length for failed laparoscopic surgeries was 24.8 cm (P = .03). Patient's overall height was not found to correlate with the need for conversion.Conclusions: Shorter mediastinal length is associated with successful laparoendoscopic or laparoscopic THE. This information is readily available to clinicians from routine preoperative staging studies (chest CT) and may be used to potentially predict the success rate of a totally laparoendoscopic approach and aid in patient selection. Further prospective evaluation of these findings is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Esophageal cancer is the sixth cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. Esophagectomy is the standard treatment for non-metastatic esophageal cancer, but is associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. We evaluated the mortality and complications following esophagectomy, and factors affecting it (including the surgical approach). Methods: This retrospective study was performed from 2006 to 2012; the data were collected from medical files of esophageal cancer patients who underwent surgical procedures at Iran's cancer institute and analyzed. Results: A total of 254 operated esophageal cancer patients entered this study. Patients included 105 males and 149 females, with a mean age of 65.70. Of all the operated patients, 121 (47.64%) underwent the trans-hiatal and 121 (47.64%) the transthoracic esophagectomy method, also 12 patients were operated by other surgical methods. Post-operative complications occurred in 61 patients (24.02%). Respiratory complications (20.08%) --including Adults Respiratory Distress Syndrome (9.45 %), pneumonia (6.30%) and ventilator dependency (4.33%) - were the most common complications. Other major complications were anastomosis leakage and fistula (6.30 %), atrial fibrillation (6.30 %), chylothorax (3.15%), bleeding requiring reoperation (1.97%) and pulmonary embolism (1.97 %). In-hospital mortality rate was 5.12 %. Pneumonia, ICU admission and intubation time were significantly higher in transthoracic than trans-hiatal method but mortality was not significantly different. ARDS, ventilator dependency and history of cardio-pulmonary disease were prognostic for in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: Although esophagectomy is a complex surgery and associated with multiple complications, in case of proper patient selection and experienced surgeons, both the transthoracic and trans-hiatal esophagectomy methods have appropriate results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Laparoendoscopic transhiatal esophagectomy (THE) provides advantages over traditional THE by not only avoiding laparotomy but by also allowing more precise esophageal mobilization. Occasionally, the length of the gastric conduit is insufficient to allow delivery into the neck after laparoscopic mobilization and requires laparotomy to complete the procedure. We hypothesize that the need for laparotomy will correlate with the measurement of mediastinal height (distance from thoracic vertebrae T1-T12) on chest CT., Methods: Medical records of all patients who underwent attempted laparoendoscopic-assisted THE at a tertiary referral center between March 1, 2003 and January 31, 2019 were reviewed. Patients' mediastinal height was measured using computed tomography (CT) imaging of the chest by investigators and analyzed for correlation between mediastinal height and successful completion of a totally laparoendoscopic procedure., Results: A total of 21 cases met inclusion criteria: 9 successful laparoendoscopic THE procedures and 12 failed laparoendoscopic THE procedures (those requiring addition of a mini-laparotomy or thoracotomy). The mean mediastinal length for successful laparoendoscopic surgery was 23.5 cm, whereas the mean mediastinal length for failed laparoscopic surgeries was 24.8 cm (P = .03). Patient's overall height was not found to correlate with the need for conversion., Conclusions: Shorter mediastinal length is associated with successful laparoendoscopic or laparoscopic THE. This information is readily available to clinicians from routine preoperative staging studies (chest CT) and may be used to potentially predict the success rate of a totally laparoendoscopic approach and aid in patient selection. Further prospective evaluation of these findings is warranted.