J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 80(12): 1493-1496, 1979

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Report on the annual meeting

EFFECTIVE VERTICAL STERNAL EXCISION METHOD FOR EXTENSIVE REMOVAL OF REGIONAL LYMPHNODES IN THE OPERATION OF HYPOPHARYNGO-ESOPHAGEAL CANCERS

Effective operations of 11 patients with cancers localized in the hypopharynx and cervical esophagus have been studied and discussed in this paper. We have obtained the following comparative results.
The conventional combination of the right thoracotomy to reach the upper mediastinum and the modified neck dissection as a method of extensive removal of regional lymphnodes in these particular, advanced cases is unsatisfactory because of high incidence of recurrence.
Instead of the thoracotomy, the vertical excision of the sternum is better as far as our results are concerned and should be adopted preferentially to completely remove upper mediastinal lymphnodes over broad areas. Otherwise, the incidence of upper mediastinal recurrence of cancers is high, resulting in poor prognosis.
The risk after this vertical sternal excision is also lesser than that after the conventional thoracotomy.

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