COVID-19 infection after minimally invasive esophagectomy: Two cases report / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Two male patients (75 years and 51 years, respectively) suffered infection of novel coronavirus after minimally invasive surgery for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Sichuan Cancer Hospital since December 2022. Both patients developed severe hypoxemia after surgery, and were treated with advanced oxygen therapy, antiviral therapy, hormone shock therapy, antibiotic anti-infection and nutritional support. The two patients stayed in the intensive care unit for 6 days and 8 days respectively. They were transferred to the general ward for symptomatic treatment and were discharged successfully. Both patients required low-flow oxygen maintenance after discharge. On the 20th day of follow-up after discharge, patient 1 still needed low-flow oxygen, his oxygen saturation could be maintained above 97%, but intermittent deoxygenation could be performed for half an hour. Patient 2 was in good condition on 35 days after discharge.

Comparison of thoracoscopic esophagectomy and traditional esophagectomy in radical mediastinal lymphadenectomy for esophageal cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare thoracoscopic esophagectomy with traditional esophagectomy in radical mediastinal lymphadenectomy for esophageal cancer, and to explore the feasibility and safety of thoracoscopic mediastinal lymphadenectomy for esophagectomy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinical data associated with perioperation and mediastinal lymph nodes clearance of 304 patients undergoing radical operation of esophageal cancer via left neck-right chest-upper abdomen in our department from June 2009 to June 2011 were analyzed retrospectively. Among 304 cases, 199 received traditional open radical resection and 105 thoracoscopic esophagectomy. The intrathoracic mediastinal lymph node metastasis rate, extent of metastasis, time of operation, blood loss and complications between two groups were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All the 304 cases completed their operations successfully. A total of 3724 mediastinal lymph nodes were removed, mean 12.3±7.0 per case, including 1065 in thoracoscopic group, mean 10.1±5.5 per case, and 2659 in open group, mean 13.3±7.5 per case, whose difference was significant. But further analysis according to the postoperative pathologic staging showed no significant difference of above lymph nodes removed between two groups. Mediastinal lymph node metastasis was found in 126 patients with a rate of 41.4%, which was 35.6% and 44.7% in thoracoscopic and open groups respectively without significant difference(P>0.05). The left laryngeal recurrent nerve lymph node metastasis rate in open group and thoracoscopic group was 16.1% and 6.7% respectively, and the difference was significant(P<0.05). Differences of lymph node metastasis rate in other regions were not significant between the two groups. There were 365 positive lymph nodes, and the lymph node metastasis degree was 9.8%. which was 8.2% and 10.5% in thoracoscopic group and open group respectively(P<0.05), besides metastasis degree of open group was much higher in right laryngeal recurrent nerve and subcarinal lymph node region. The overall complication rate was 36.8%, which was 28.6% in thoracoscopic group and 41.2% in open group respectively with significant difference(P<0.05). There were no significant differences in operative time and blood loss between the two groups(both P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Radical mediastinal lymphadenectomy with thoracoscopic esophagectomy is technically safe and feasible for early to moderate stage esophageal cancer with similar lymph nodes removed and lower complication morbidity. In the early period of carrying out thoracoscopic radical mediastinal lymphadenectomy, laryngeal recurrent nerve and subcarinal lymph node region should be identified to prevent incidental injury.</p>

Surgical treatment for lung cancer in the elderly / 中国肺癌杂志

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The prevalence of lung cancer in the elder increases gradually recently, and lung cancer has become the main cause of cancer-related death. The aim of this study is to analyse the operative indication, complication, perioperative management and surgical measures, results and specificity for lung cancer in the elderly patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and thirty-seven elderly patients with lung can-cer, aged from 70 to 83 years old with mean age of 74 were analysed. Of the 137 cases, 13 patients were in the stage I, 76 in stage II, 48 in stage III. Surgical procedures included pneumonectomy for 4 patients, lobectomy for 122 patients, segmentectomy and wedge resection for 7 patients, sleeve lobectomy for 19 patients, bronchoplastic procedure and pulmonary artery reconstruction for 2 patients. Video-assisted thoracic surgery was performed in 13 cases for segmentectomy and wedge excision</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was no operative death. The resection rate was 97.1%, and postoperative complication rate was 29.9%. The follow-up rate was 88.3% . The 1-, 2-, 3-year survival rate was 62%, 35%, 28% respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Elderly patients with lung cancer can obtain good therapeutic results and prognosis undergoing surgical therapy, but the operative indications will be limited. Exquisite surgical technique and application of respirator after operation may expand the operative indications.</p>