Total adventitial resection of the cardia: 'optimal local resection' for tumours of the oesophagogastric junction

INTRODUCTION Little is published about the local resection of oesophageal cancers. We adopted the principles of rectal cancer surgery, ie standard surgical dissection techniques as well as standard pathological processing and reporting, and assessed the feasibility of applying them to oesophagogastric junction (OGJ) cancer.

METHODS Over a two-year period consecutive patients with invasive cancers of the OGJ were studied. Following staging and neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), a standard dissection defined as a total adventitial resection of the cardia (TARC) was performed. Standard histopathological processing involved external inking, photographing, transverse slicing and mounting of cut samples on megablocks. Hospital morbidity and mortality as well as survival at five years' follow-up were assessed.

RESULTS Forty consecutive patients had a TARC for OGJ carcinoma. Of these, 32 were offered NAC. Introducing TARC did not result in increased morbidity or mortality. Twenty-seven patients (68%) had an RO resection that was directly related to the tumour stage and significantly related to a response to chemotherapy. Sixteen patients (42%) were alive five years after their TARC operation.

CONCLUSIONS Although the adventitia of the OGJ is not as well developed as that of the rectum, TARC can be performed safely as a standardised resection for OGJ cancers. Whereas the RO rate for early stage tumours is very high, it remains disappointingly low for T3N1 tumours despite NAC. Improved long-term survival for these advanced tumours will only be achieved with better neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies.