A Case of Esophageal Cancer with Severe Respiratory Condition which Could be Treated by Operation after Preoperative Combined-modality Therapy

Abstract

The patient was a 61-year-old woman who presented with a history of dysphagia and weight loss, and was diagnosed as having esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, LeAe cT4aN2M0 Stage Ⅲ. She also had severe respiratory dysfunction, nutritional disorders and hypothyroidism. She received chest physical therapy and home oxygen therapy for the respiratory dysfunction,　nutrition through a PEG for the nutritional disorders, and levothyroxine　for hypothyroidism, along with DCF as neoadjuvant therapy. Thereafter, the tumor shrank and her general condition recovered slightly, and we performed subtotal esophagectomy, three-field lymph node dissection and gastric tube reconstruction after checking for surgical resistance with one-lung ventilation. She had no complications during the perioperative period and was discharged 49 days after the surgery. The histopathological diagnosis was pT3N1M0 and therapy evaluation chemotherapy was Grade Ⅱ. At present, 3 years after the surgery, she remains alive without recurrence.