Abstract: Objective To evaluate the clinical therapeutic effect in patients with resectable esophageal cancer after esophagectomy followed by gastric tube or whole stomach reconstruction.
Methods Clinical data of patients underwent esophagectomy for esophageal cancer in our hospital from 2007 to 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups，Group A（n=53） patients underwent gastric tube esophagectomy；Group B（n=48） patients underwent whole stomach reconstruction esophagectomy.
The clinical indexes such as the level of anastomosis, the intraoperative bleeding, operation time, postoperative thoracic drainage and gastrointestinal decompression, drainage tube removal time,
postoperative complications and respiratory function （ratio of predicted values of MVV％，FEV1.0％，VC％） in patients of two groups were compared.
Results Patients in Group A had lower rate of reflux esophagitis than patients in Group B. The difference was statistically significant（5.7％ vs. 25.0％，P=0.01）. Patients in Group A had lower rate of thoracic stomach syndrome than patients in Group B（0 vs. 8.3％）. Patients in Group A had higher values of VC％，MVV％ and FEV1.0％ than patients in Group B. The difference was statistically significant（P＜0.01）. Conclusion The patients received esophagectomy followed by gastric tube has lower rate of reflux esophagitis and thoracic stomach syndrome than patients received esophagectomy followed by whole stomach reconstruction. Esophagectomy followed by gastric tube has less influence of postoperative respiratory function on patients.