title: Comparison of outcomes of open and minimally invasive esophagectomy in 183 patients with cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Only few randomized trials or comparative studies with large number of patients have been reported on the outcomes of thoracoscopic and laparoscopic esophagectomy (TLE) with cervical anastomosis and open 3-field esophagectomy (OE) for patients with esophageal cancer. The objective of this study is to compare the safety, feasibility, and short-term outcomes between TLE and OE (via right throax, abdomen, and left neck) for esophageal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical and surgical data of patients with esophageal cancer who underwent either TLE or OE between February 2011 and December 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic characteristics, pathological data, operative procedures, and intraoperative and postoperative outcomes and survival in patients were compared between both groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 183 patients included in this retrospective analysis, 94 underwent TLE and 89 underwent OE. Demographics, pathologic data, inpatient mortality, and overall surgical morbidity in both cohorts were almost identical. A significant difference was observed in blood loss (182.6±78.3 vs. 261.4±87.2 mL, P<0.001), hospital stay (13.9±7.5 vs. 17.1±10.2 days, P=0.017), overall surgical morbidity (25.5% vs. 46.1%, P=0.004), and rate of pulmonary and cardiac complication (9.6% vs. 27.0%, P=0.002; 4.1% vs. 12.4%, P=0.046) between TLE and OE groups; however, no difference in survival period was observed between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The procedure of TLE for esophageal cancer possesses advantages in intraoperative and postoperative outcomes compared with OE. The TLE procedure results in similar or potentially better outcomes.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Group, Fuxin 123000, China ; 2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Henan Cancer Hospital, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450008, China.
authors.forename: Fanyu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Group, Fuxin 123000, China ; 2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Henan Cancer Hospital, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450008, China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Group, Fuxin 123000, China ; 2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Henan Cancer Hospital, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450008, China.
authors.forename: Haibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Group, Fuxin 123000, China ; 2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Henan Cancer Hospital, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450008, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, General Hospital of Fuxin Mining Group, Fuxin 123000, China ; 2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Henan Cancer Hospital, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450008, China.
authors.forename: Ruixiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Thoracoscopic; esophageal cancer; esophagectomy; laparoscopic; pulmonary complication