Salvage minimally invasive esophagectomy after definitive chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer can improve postoperative complications compared with salvage open esophagectomy

Background Although the advantage of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) over open esophagectomy (OE) in planned esophagectomy is being established, the utility of salvage MIE (S-MIE) remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the feasibility and advantage of S-MIE compared with salvage OE (S-OE). Methods We retrospectively assessed 82 patients who underwent salvage esophagectomy after definitive chemoradiotherapy for thoracic esophageal cancer between January 2007 and April 2020. Perioperative factors and postoperative complications were compared between the S-OE group ( n = 62) and the S-MIE group ( n = 20). Logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the factors associated with postoperative complications. Results Regarding the patients’ preoperative characteristics, the S-OE group had a significant number of grade ≥ cT3 patients vs the S-MIE group (69% vs 35%, respectively; p = 0.006), whereas ycT rates were comparable. Compared with S-OE, S-MIE had comparable operative time, number of harvested thoracic lymph nodes, and R0 resection, but significantly less estimated blood loss (150 ml and 395 ml, respectively; p = 0.003). Regarding postoperative complications, total complications (79% vs 50%; p = 0.01) and pneumonia (48.3% vs 20%; p = 0.02) rates were significantly lower with S-OE vs S-MIE, respectively. On multivariate analysis, S-MIE was an independent factor associated with postoperative pneumonia (odds ratio: 0.29, 95% confidence interval: 0.06–0.99; p = 0.04) and total complications (odds ratio: 0.26, 95% confidence interval: 0.07–0.86; p = 0.02). Conclusion S-MIE was feasible for salvage esophagectomy, with favorable short-term outcomes vs S-OE regarding postoperative pneumonia and total complications.