625. PROPENSITY SCORE-MATCHED COMPARISON OF OUTCOMES BETWEEN POSTERIOR MEDIASTINAL AND RETROSTERNAL ROUTES OF RECONSTRUCTION FOLLOWING THREE-PHASE ESOPHAGECTOMY

The retrosternal (RS) and posterior mediastinal (PM) routes can be chosen for gastric conduit reconstruction following three-phase esophagectomy with cervical anastomosis. It is controversial if the choice of reconstruction route would affect the operative outcome. This study aims to evaluate the surgical outcome by comparing the routes of reconstruction. Between 2002 and 2019, patients who underwent esophagectomy with cervical anastomosis and gastric conduit reconstruction via the retrosternal (RS) or posterior mediastinal (PM) route for esophageal squamous cell cancer were included. Clinicopathological data were analyzed from a prospectively managed database. Postoperative morbidity and mortality rates, presence of recurrent tumor invasion of the conduit and overall survival were compared between the two groups. Further analyses were made after propensity score matching (PSM). There were 89 patients in the RS and 266 in PM groups. R0 resection rates were 47.2% and 89.1% in the RS and PM groups, respectively (p