Page 26 - Head and neck surgery

Such an approach enables preservation of the lower esophagus:

Tumour can be resected with adequate resection margins under direct vision, obviating the need

for total esophagectomy simply to ascertain a clear distal resection margin.

In the past, the entire esophagus had to be resected to make way for gastric / colonic

transposition to the neck for anastomosis with the pharynx. Advances in microsurgery means

there are many options for PE reconstruction. This obviates the need for total esophagectomy

simply for reconstruction.

Advances in diagnostic modalities means that total esopahagectomy simply to reduce the chance

of second primary tumour development in patients with isolated PE tumour cannot be justified.