Omentoplasty versus no omentoplasty for esophagogastrostomy after surgery for cancer of cardia and esophagus

BACKGROUND: The standard of care of patients with cancer of cardia and esophagus still remains surgery in early stage. One of the most feared complications after such procedure is anastomotic leak.
AIM: We present our experience with omental wrapping of anastomosis (omentoplasty) to decrease the anastomotic leak.
SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Retrospective study.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: An analysis of 50 consecutive patients, who underwent surgical resection for cancer of cardia and esophagus at BPKMCH, is done. For cancer of esophagus, a 10 cm proximal tumor free margin and for lesions of cardia, at least 5 cm margin was achieved. A 5 cm distal tumor free margin was achieved in each case. A subset of patients was considered for omentoplasty after completion of anastomosis.
RESULTS: There were 29 male and 21 female with a mean age of 56.3 years. The average postoperative stay was 13.14 days. The stomach was the organ of substitute in 48 and jejunum in 2 cases. Omentoplasty was done in 37 cases, whereas in 13 cases, no omental wrapping was done. The rate of anastomotic leak was 6%. There was no leak from anastomosis placed at chest, whereas three cases of leak was observed in the anastomosis at the level of neck ( P=.013). Overall, there was no leak in omentoplasty group, whereas there were three cases with leak in the group without omentoplasty ( P=0.003).
CONCLUSION: Omentoplasty should be considered in every case after surgical resection for cancer of cardia and esophagus.