Comparison of the short-term and long-term outcomes between minimally invaisive Ivor-Lewis and minimally invaisive McKeown esophagectomy for middle or lower esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after propensity score matching analysis

Objective The aim of our study was to compare the short-term and long-term outcomes between minimally invaisive Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy(MIILE)and minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy(MIME) for squamous cell carcinoma of middle and lower esophagus. Methods The data of 268 patients diagnosed with middle and lower esophageal spuamous cell carcinoma who had received MIILE or MIME between August 2010 and March 2014 at department of thoracic surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China(Anhui Provincial Hospital), was analyzed retrospectively. We divided the subjects into two groups according to the mode of the operation, each group was identified 81 patients after propensity score matching. We were using t test, χ2 test, Kaplan-Meier curve and Log-rank test to compare preoperative data and overall survival of the two groups. Results Compared with MIME, MIILE had lower complication in pulmonary infection and anastomotic fistula, also had less operating time, whereas MIME had an advantage in the number of lymph nodes dissection adjacent to recurrent laryngeal nerve(P<0.05). The 1-year、3-year、5-year survival rate of MIILE were 87.7%、59.2%、45.9%, and the 1-year、3-year、5-year survival rate of MIME were 86.4%、58.7%、42.8%.There were no significant difference between two groups in 5-year survival rate. Conclusion For squamous cell carcinoma of middle and lower esophagus, minimally invasive Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy and minimally invasive McKeown have no significant difference in long-term survival, but minimally invasive Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy has advantages in reduce the operating time, decrease pulmonary infection and anastomotic fistula during perioperative period.Nevertheless minimally invasive McKeown has an advantage in dissection of the lymph nodes adjacent to recurrent laryngeal nerve. Key words: Esophageal cancer; Minimally invasive esophagectomy; Survival