Case report: Gastric tube cancer after esophagectomy—Retrograde perfusion after proximal resection of right gastroepiploic artery

Highlights

• Surgical treatment of post-esophagectomy gastric tube cancer is individual and challenging.

• We safely and successfully treated a gastric tube cancer via partial resection, sacrificing Right gastroepiploic artery.

• Retrograde pulsation of the right gastroepiploic artery was seen during surgery.

• Consequently, vascular reconstruction of this artery was not required.

• Bilateral vascularization may reduce the risk of perioperative complications.

Abstract

Introduction

We report a case of a 57-year-old patient with gastric tube cancer after subtotal esophagectomy and retrosternal gastric pull up.

Case presentation

The patient developed gastric cancer 4 years after undergoing treatment for esophageal squamous cell cancer; the treatments included thoracoscopic subtotal esophagectomy, gastric pull-up reconstruction via a retrosternal route in salvage setting following definitive chemoradiation. Because the gastric tube cancer was located around the pylorus, transabdominal partial resection, which is much less invasive than total resection via sternotomy, was performed. During surgery, retrograde pulsation of the proximally resected right gastroepiploic artery was observed. Owing to an ample blood supply to the oral remnant of the gastric tube, vascular reconstruction of the right gastroepiploic artery was omitted. The postoperative recovery was eventless.

Discussion

The right gastroepiploic artery is considered essential for blood supply to the gastric tube. However, there was no sign of ischemia after proximal resection of this artery, which suggests the vasculature was altered after gastric tube construction.

Conclusion

This case shows that partial distal resection of the gastric tube can be performed safely without vascular reconstruction of the right gastroepiploic artery. Favorable long-term results after gastric tube reconstruction support the possibility of bilateral blood supply to the gastroepiploic arcade.