Abstract
Cancer of the junction at the cervical and thoracic segment of the esophagus has been thought to lie beyond the scope of surgical intervention, but the author treated 6 cases of cancer of this area with one-stage operation consisting of thoracotomy, cervical and thoracic esophagectomy, total laryngectomy, elevation of the stomach in the anterior chest wall and gastrohypopharyngeal anastomosis. All patiens were able of deglutition in the early postoperative days. postoperative function studies of the recontructed food passage revealed satisfactory results, and two patients still survived and lived well for three years postoperatively.
Considering the surgical methods and the postoperative functional result of so-called cancer of the cervical esophagus, in which carcinomata localized only in the cervical esophagus, by the operative method mentioned above it was feasible to minimize the possibility of leaving any remnant of cancer tissue in the cut end of the esophagus, and to remove the intrathoracic lymph nodes as much as attempted. The use of the stomach as a substitute of the esophagus was preferable because of the technical ease and of abundant blood supply as well as of elasticity of the stomach.
