Vascular anatomy of the stomach and its application in gastric tube reconstruction dur-ing esophagectomy / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the vascular anatomy of the stomach, especially the right gastroepiploic artery for the reconstruc-tion of a gastric tube during esophagectomy. Methods: The vascular anatomy of the stomach was studiing in 28 embalmed human specimens provided by the Department of Anatomy, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, included 10 female and 18 male spec-imens. The length and diameter of gastric vessels were measured. The ratio of the length of the right gastroepiploic artery to the length of the greater curvature was calculated. Anastomosis between the left and right gastroepiploic arteries was also assessed. Re-sults Twenty-five left gastric arteries were observed in the autopsies, with the mean diameter of 3.40 (2.10-6.40) mm. Twenty-one right gastric arteries were measured, with the mean diameter of 1.97 (0.68-3.56) mm. Twenty-six left gastroepiploic arteries were ob-served, with the mean diameter of 1.87 (0.80-2.96) mm. Twenty-eight right gastroepiploic arteries were measured, with the mean di-ameter of 2.82 (1.58-4.80) mm. The mean lengths of the 28 right gastroepiploic arteries and their greater curvatures were 216.71 (120-318) mm and 356.39 (248-487) mm, respectively. The ratio of the length of right gastroepiploic arteries and greater curvatures was 0.61 (0.45-0.82). The anastomosis between the left and right gastroepiploic arteries was observed in 60.7% (17/28) of the specimens. Conclusions: The length and diameter of gastric vessels were calculated. It was assumed that the right gastroepiploic artery provides an average of 61% of the blood supply for the great curvature. In addition, the anastomotic branch of the right and left gastroepiploic arteries was observed in 60.7% specimens. These anatomical data allow surgeons to estimate the blood supply and to choose an opti-mal method of gastric tube reconstruction during esophagectomy.