Extracorporeal Elimination of Cytokines Following Abdominal-thoracic Esophagectomy - a Randomized Study (EXCESS)

Radical esophagectomy combined with extensive lymphadenectomy for esophageal cancer is one of the most invasive surgical procedures. Even with progress made in surgical technique and postoperative management the rate of short- and long term complications remains high. The surgical trauma invariably causes liberation and activation of inflammatory mediators and danger associated molecular patterns, which in turn result in a pronounced systemic inflammatory reaction, leading to multiorgan dysfunction including adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in many patients. The subsequent counter regulation of the immune system induces immune paralysis, which is followed by infectious complications and increases the probability of severe sepsis. Moreover, severe systemic inflammation causes capillary leakage, resulting in impaired wound healing and endangered anastomoses.

Therefore, it seems that early and effective measures against the excessive production of mediators and cytokines are indicated without impairment of the innate and adaptive immune response as it would be expected with the administration of e.g. steroids. Instead, the removal of an excessive amount of circulating cytokines might be a desirable method having shown its effectivity in the therapy of septic shock in the past.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of extracorporeal cytokine removal to dampen the systemic inflammatory response following abdominal-thoracic esophagectomy.