Joint Nasogastric Tube (JNT) Versus Traditional Decompression Nasogastric Tube (TNT) to Guided OGT-overlap Oesophagojejunostomy in Laparoscopic Total Gastrectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

All patients enrolled in our study underwent standard laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) with D2 lymphadenectomy and OGT-overlap oesophagojejunostomy according to the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association treatment guidelines and our previous reports. When the surgeons decided to perform OGT-overlap oesophagojejunostomy after gastrectomy, we randomised the patients into the Traditional Decompression Nasogastric Tube (TNT) group or Joint Nasogastric Tube (JNT) group by simple randomization operatively.

In the TNT group, the TNT was put into the oesophageallumen from the nose, to guide the cutting of a small enterotomy on the posterior oesophagealstump . While in the JNT group, the JNT was used to substitute the TNT. After the anastomosis was completed, the team of surgeons performed an intraoperative gastroscopy to check for defects, bleeding, and stenosis in the anastomosis, and esophageal pseudocanals, and also to confirm whether the esophageal mucosa was damaged by TNT or JNT.