Objective To investigate the application value of esophagogastric anastomosis with double muscle flap plasty in total laparoscopic radical resection of proximal gastric cancer.

Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 5 patients undergoing radical resection of proximal gastric cancer in Cancer Hospital of China Medical University from January to December 2020 were collected. All 5 cases were male, aged from 57 to 72 years, with a median age of 65 years. All 5 patients underwent total laparoscopic radical resection of proximal gastric cancer combined with esophagogastric anastomosis with double muscle flap plasty. Observation indicators: (1) operative situations; (2) postoperative situations; (3) follow-up. Follow-up was conducted using outpatient examination and telephone interview to detect postoperative anastomosis, esophageal reflux, nutritional status, quality of life, tumor recurrence and metastasis of patients up to February 2021. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range). Count data were described as absolute numbers.

Results (1) Operative situations: all 5 patients underwent surgery successfully. The operation time, time of esophagogastric anastomosis with double muscle flap plasty, number of lymph node dissected, volume of intraoperative blood loss, length of surgical incision of 5 patients were (316±41)minutes,(109±11)minutes, 26±4, (48±12)mL, (3.4±0.4)cm, respectively. Results of intraoperative rapid frozen section pathological examination showed negative of esophageal margin. (2) Postoperative situations: the time to postoperative initial flatus, time to postoperative initial food intake, during of postoperative hospital stay, cost of treat-ment of 5 patients were (4.8±1.5)days, (5.8±1.5)days, (11.6±2.1)days and (5.5±0.4)×10⁴ yuan, respectively. Results of postoperative pathological examination of 5 patients showed gastric adeno-carcinoma in all 5 patients including 4 cases with moderately and poorly differentiated adeno-carcinoma and 1 case with highly differentiated adenocarcinoma, with the TNM staging of pT1a-3N0-1 M0 stage. Of the 5 patients, 1 case underwent postoperative mild pneumonia and was cured by conservative treatment such as anti-infection and promotion of sputum evacuation. (3) Follow-up: all 5 patients were followed up for 2 to 12 months, with a median follow-up time of 6 months. Of the 5 patients, 4 cases underwent anastomotic patency and 1 case underwent mild anastomotic stenosis who was improved after endoscopic treatment. None of the 5 patients underwent reflux esophagitis. The body mass index, the score of nutritional risk screening 2002, the score of patient-generated subjective global assessment and the score of tumor patient quality of life of 5 patients were 21 kg/m²(range, 19-27 kg/m²), 2(range, 1-2), 2(range, 1-3) and 47(range, 42-52), respectively. None of the 5 patients underwent tumor recurrence or metastasis.

Conclusion Esophagogastric anas-tomosis with double muscle flap plasty can be used in total laparoscopic radical resection of proximal gastric cancer which will lead to satisfactory short-term efficacy.