Background: Insufficient blood supply in the gastric tube is considered as a risk factor for postoperative anastomotic strictures in patients receiving esophagectomy, but the direct evidence is lacking.
Aims: We aimed to investigate the correlation between perioperative blood supply in the anastomotic area of the gastric tube and the formation of anastomotic strictures in the patients undergoing esophagectomy.
Methods: This prospective study included 60 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing Ivor Lewis esophagectomy between March 2014 and February 2016, which were divided into stricture group (n = 13) and non-stricture group (n = 47) based on their severity of anastomotic strictures at 3 months post-operation. The perioperative anastomotic blood supply was measured using a laser Doppler flowmetry. The gastric intramucosal pH (pHi) was measured by a gastric tonometer within 72 h post-operation. The perfusion index and gastric pHi were compared between groups.
Results: The stricture group had a significantly lower blood flow index (P < 0.001) and gastric pHi values from day 1 to day 3 post-operation than the non-stricture group (all P < 0.001). In addition, Pearson correlation analysis showed that both the perfusion index and gastric pHi were significantly correlated with stricture size and stricture scores, respectively (r = 0.65 - 0.32, all P < 0.05). Furthermore, the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that perfusion index was an influential factor associated with postoperative anastomotic strictures (OR 0.84. 95% CI 0.72-0.98, P = 0.026).
Conclusion: These results suggested that poor blood supply in the anastomotic area of the gastric tube in the perioperative period was a risk factor for postoperative anastomotic strictures.
Keywords: Anastomotic blood supply; Benign esophageal strictures; Esophageal cancer; Esophagectomy.