The Comparison of Single and Multi-incision Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy for Treating Esophageal Cancer

Surgery remains the main stay of treating esophageal cancer. However, esophagectomy is a complex and technical demanding surgical procedure harboring substantial morbidity and mortality. Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) has been gradually adopted as a feasible and effective treatment option for esophageal cancer. The standardized procedure including lymph node dissection, esophageal mobilization and reconstruction can be effectively performed under minimized wound incision whereas rendering the patients a possibility of faster postoperative recovery and reduced risk of perioperative postoperative pulmonary complication. The procedure of MIE including the thoracoscopic and laparoscopic phases which are usually performed multiple incisional wounds. Previously the investigators have published the adoption of single-incision approach both in the thoracoscopic and laparoscopic phases in MIE (SIMIE). The preliminary clinical results showed that SIMIE can provide an equivalent perioperative outcome whereas reduced the wound pain on the days 7 after surgery as compared to MIE performed with multi-incision (MIMIE). The goal of the current study was to conduct a prospective randomized trial to compare the perioperative outcome and survival of SIMIE and MIMIE.