Esophageal cancer surgery for patients with chronic respiratory diseases

Esophageal cancer frequently occurs in the elderly and many of the patients have smoking history. Therefore, some of them have pulmonary comorbidity such as chronic respiratory diseases. As postoperative pulmonary complications after esophagectomy can be a cause of hospital death, careful evaluation is needed before the decision of the indication for surgery. In order to prevent postoperative pulmonary complications in patients with pulmonary comorbidities, modifications in the surgical procedures are needed. Even for cases who can tolerate standard esophagectomy, both the bronchial arteries and pulmonary branches of the vagal nerve should be preserved as far as possible. For patients who cannot tolerate the thoracotomy, transhiatal esophagectomy or non-surgical treatment should be selected. Postoperatively, airway cleansing using a bronchoscopy or mini-tracheostomy should be performed for cases with difficulty in sputum excretion. An enhanced recovery program by multidisciplinary team is effective to prevent postoperative pulmonary complications. Perioperative use of corticosteroid and sivelestat may reduce the incidence of pulmonary complications. As aspiration pneumonia is sometimes fatal in patients after esophagectomy, care to avoid aspiration is needed. Respiratory care is essential during the follow-up period as well as perioperative period in esophagectomized patients with pulmonary comorbidities.