title: Combined resection of the aorta for an esophageal carcinoma invading the aorta through a right transthoracic approach.
abstract: The prognosis of esophageal carcinoma invading the thoracic aorta has been extremely poor, as it has been either not resected or only palliatively resected. In recent years a remarkable improvement in survival has been achieved in advanced esophageal carcinoma through an aggressive dissection of the upper mediastinal lymph nodes. This implied that resection only of the aorta without lymph node dissection in these patients was not adequate for curability. Although a resection of the aorta would seem to be performed more easily through a left thoracotomy than through a right thoracotomy, the upper mediastinal lymph node dissection was unsatisfactory through a left thoracotomy. Therefore, we performed combined resection of the aorta using a temporary aorta-aorta bypass together with upper mediastinal lymph node dissection through a right thoracotomy for four patients with the esophageal carcinoma invading the thoracic aorta. This operative procedure was performed safely, and had the advantage that full observation on the extent of the carcinoma was attained together with subsequent radical lymph node dissection in the same field through only the right thoracic approach. This operation may provide a possibility for cure to patients with an esophageal carcinoma invading the aorta, who would otherwise receive only palliative treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kabuto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashiyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takami
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokouchi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takami
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D013908:Thoracotomy; D019043:Vascular Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*