Ji X, Cai J, Chen Y, Chen LQ. Lymphatic spreading and lymphadenectomy for esophageal carcinoma. World J Gastrointest Surg 2016; 8(1): 90-94 [PMID: 26843917 DOI: 10.4240/wjgs.v8.i1.90]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Long-Qi Chen, Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Wuhou District, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. drchenlq@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Surg. Jan 27, 2016; 8(1): 90-94 Published online Jan 27, 2016. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v8.i1.90
Lymphatic spreading and lymphadenectomy for esophageal carcinoma
Xiang Ji, Jie Cai, Yao Chen, Long-Qi Chen
Xiang Ji, Jie Cai, Yao Chen, Long-Qi Chen, Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Cai J and Chen Y performed the literature search; Chen LQ suggested the theme to be reviewed, designed the text structure and made several critical corrections; Ji X performed the literature search, wrote the text and made revisions until the submitted version was achieved.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The above-mentioned authors of this manuscript hereby declare that they do not have any conflict of interest (including but not limited to commercial, personal, political, intellectual or religious interests) related to this work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Long-Qi Chen, Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Wuhou District, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. drchenlq@gmail.com
Telephone: +86-28-85422494 Fax: +86-28-85422494
Received: June 29, 2015 Peer-review started: July 3, 2015 First decision: August 25, 2015 Revised: October 6, 2015 Accepted: December 1, 2015 Article in press: December 2, 2015 Published online: January 27, 2016
Abstract
Esophageal carcinoma (EC) is a highly lethal malignancy with a poor prognosis. One of the most important prognostic factors in EC is lymph node status. Therefore, lymphadenectomy has been recognized as a key that influences the outcome of surgical treatment for EC. However, the lymphatic drainage system of the esophagus, including an abundant lymph-capillary network in the lamina propria and muscularis mucosa, is very complex with cervical, mediastinal and celiac node spreading. The extent of lymphadenectomy for EC has always been controversial because of the very complex pattern of lymph node spreading. In this article, published literature regarding lymphatic spreading was reviewed and the current lymphadenectomy trends for EC are discussed.
Core tip: Esophageal carcinoma (EC) is a highly lethal malignancy with a poor prognosis. One of the most important prognostic factors in EC is lymph node status. Therefore, lymphadenectomy has been recognized as a key that influences the outcome of surgical treatment for EC. However, the lymphatic drainage system of the esophagus is very complex, with cervical, mediastinal and celiac node spreading. The extent of lymphadenectomy for EC has always been controversial because of the very complex pattern of lymph node spreading. In this article, published literature regarding lymphatic spreading was reviewed and the current lymphadenectomy trends for EC are discussed.
