Video: transcervical videoscopic esophageal dissection in minimally invasive esophagectomy.

Background: Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) may involve video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for mediastinal esophageal dissection. Usually, VATS requires single-lung ventilation and has associated cardiopulmonary morbidity [1-3]. Alternatively, transhiatal dissection can be performed, although its complications include vocal cord palsy [4], cardiac arrythmias [5], and increased bleeding [5, 6], the latter associated with mortality after esophagectomy [2]. Therefore, the feasibility of MIE using transcervical videoscopic esophageal dissection (TVED) in swine was investigated. A simultaneous laparoscopic and TVED approach may decrease operative time and blood loss while improving visualization and avoiding single-lung ventilation.

Methods: Two pigs (Sus domesticus) underwent two similar procedures. The methods were approved by the authors' Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (no. A24209) under United States Department of Agriculture guidelines. Steps included a cervical incision to accommodate a modified hand-assist access device. The cervical esophagus was dissected. Trocars were placed through the modified access device, and pneumomediastinum was established. The tracheoesophageal plane was dissected into the thorax and beyond the mid esophagus, on which the pleura of the separate mediastinal compartment inserts itself. Vagal nerves were identified and divided distal to recurrent branches. Standard laparoscopic techniques were used for esophagogastric dissection. After specimen extraction, the animals were euthanized.

Results: A full circumferential dissection of the mediastinal esophagus was successfully accomplished in two animals using a single-incision TVED for MIE.

Conclusions: A novel technique for mediastinal esophageal dissection using a TVED approach performed with instruments designed for single-port surgery is described. Fortunately, the human lacks the swine's separate mediastinal compartment, and this unique difference should facilitate the human version of this dissection. This approach may avoid the potential morbidity of VATS while providing better visualization and facilitating dissection of the upper mediastinal esophagus compared with either the transhiatal approach or the previously attempted rigid mediastinoscopic approaches [7-9].