Surgical Treatment for the Carcinoma at the Boundary between the Superior Mediastinal and Cervical Segment of the Esophagus

Abstract

The blunt dissection via partial sternectomy was carried out for four patients with carcinoma at the boundary between the superior mediastinal and cervical segment of the esophagus. This procedure must be devised to prevent recurrence in the thoracic lymph nodes, tracheal necrosis, bronchopneumonia followed by the short trachea and stenosis of the tracheal stoma.
As a new method, the laryngo-esophagectomy via the right thoracotomy and partial median sternotomy with some modifications was carried out. This devised surgical procedure seems to be an appropriate operative method for carcinoma of the esophagus in this location, because intrathoracic lymph nodes were able to be dissected and the trachea was protected from necrosis by preserving of the right bronchial artery and by covering with the muscle flap of the latissimus dorsi.