The decrease of BMI and albumin levels influences the rate of anastomotic leaks in patients following reconstruction after emergency diverting esophagectomy

Objectives Diverting esophagectomies in cases of benign esophageal perforations remain rare but potentially life saving procedures. Usually, an esophagostoma and a feeding jejunostomy or gastrostomy are created, and patients are given time to recover from the emergency situation. However, little is known about morbidity and mortality as well as the optimal timing for a staged reconstruction. Methods Patients with benign esophageal perforations were selected from our retrospective database. Perforations in esophageal malignancies were excluded to avoid bias on patients’ general outcome. Clinical parameters and especially, the influence of the nutritional status indicated by the BMI (Body Mass Index) as well as serum albumin levels (g/l) were analyzed. Results A total of 24 patients with diverting esophagectomies were identified. Of these, 13 (54.2%) patients received a staged reconstruction after a median of 143.0 days. Patients presenting for their staged reconstruction demonstrated a significantly decreased level of their BMI ( p = 0.026) as compared to their prior hospitalization. Interestingly, the relative decrease of BMI (8.5 kg/m 2 vs. 4.3 kg/m 2 ) and albumin levels (6.5 g/l vs. 0.0 g/l) was significantly different in patients with or without anastomotic leaks between both surgeries ( p = 0.021; p = 0.034, respectively). In addition, higher rates of overall complications were associated with an increased rate of malnutrition. Conclusions The relative amount of malnutrition indicated by BMI or serum albumin levels influences the rate of anastomotic leaks and general complications in patients with staged reconstruction after diverting esophagectomy for non-malignant esophageal perforations. Hence, reconstruction should be done as fast as possible to reduce the amount of malnutrition and a frequent assessment of the nutritional status must be done during recovery from the emergency surgery.