title: Retrograde tube drainage for esophageal anastomotic leaks and perforation.
abstract: The mortality and morbidity of esophageal anastomotic leaks or perforations remain high. We performed retrograde transanastomotic esophageal sump tube drainages for esophageal anastomotic leak or perforation in three patients. Our method is a modified procedure of the T-tube drainage. The Levin gastric tube was simply inserted into the esophagus via anastomotic leak or perforation to develop a defined fistula. All three patients were treated with a satisfactory outcome. An advantage of this method is that it is technically easy, and available for patients whose diseases are difficult to treat with standard T-tube drainage. In addition, one of our patients was successfully managed non-operatively by fluoroscopical guidance. This retrograde esophageal sump tube drainage was technically very easy, safe and useful for esophageal anastomotic leaks or perforations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery II, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Kihara 5200, Kiyotake, Miyazaki, 889-1692, Japan. mtomita@post.miyazaki-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ayabe
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Onitsuka
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004939:Esophageal Perforation / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D004947:Esophagus / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013396:Suction / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*