Objective To investigate the application value of modified Overlap esophago-gastric tube (MO‑EG) reconstruction in totally laparoscopic radical proximal gastrectomy.

Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 7 patients with upper gastric cancer or adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction (AEG) who underwent totally laparoscopic radical proximal gastrectomy with MO‑EG reconstruction in the Second Hospital of Jilin University from January 2019 to December 2020 were collected. There were 4 males and 3 females, aged 62(range, 55-72)years. The body mass index of the 7 patients was 21.5(range, 18.5-26.0)kg/m². Of the 7 patients, 2 cases had early upper third gastric cancer and 5 cases had Siewert Ⅱ AEG. All patients underwent totally laparoscopic radical proximal gastrectomy with MO‑EG recons-truction using barbed sutures. Observation indicators: (1) surgical situations; (2) postoperative recovery situations; (3) postoperative histopathological examinations; (4) follow‑up. Follow‑up was conducted using outpatient examination and telephone interview to detect postoperative esophageal reflux, endoscopic classification of esophageal reflux, anastomotic complications, tumor recurrence and metastasis and survival of patients up to December 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) Surgical situations. All the 7 patients underwent totally laparoscopic radical proximal gastrectomy and D₁₊ lymph node dissection with MO‑EG reconstruction through abdominal transhiatal approach. None of the 7 patients underwent conversion to open surgery or additional thoracotomy. The operation time, time of digestive reconstruction, volume of intraoperative blood loss and length of esophagus dissected of 7 patients were (271±36)minutes, (44±10)minutes, (53±26)mL and (6.4±0.3)cm, respec-tively. (2) Postoperative recovery situations. The time to postoperative initial out‑of‑bed activities, time to postoperative first flatus, time to postoperative initial liquid food intake and duration of hospital stay of 7 patients were (21±5)hours, (2.9±0.9)days, (5.0±0.7)days and (10.1±1.9)days, respectively. None of the 7 patients had postoperative severe complications such as bleeding, anasto-motic leakage or mortality. One patient had postoperative pulmonary infection and recovered after anti‑infection treatment. Two patients had pleural effusion and were improved after conserva-tive treatment. (3) Postoperative histopathological examinations. The tumor diameter of 7 patients was (2.5±0.7)cm. Histopathological examination of upper margins of 7 patients was negative. The distance between the esophagus margin and the superior margin of the tumor of patients with AEG was (1.8±0.6)cm. The number of lymph node dissected and the number of inferior mediastinum lymph node dissected of 7 patients were 26.0±3.6 and 3.7±1.1, respectively. Pathological TNM stages of 7 patients were 2 cases of stage ⅠB, 4 cases of ⅡA, 1 case of ⅡB. (4) Follow‑up. All the 7 patients were followed up for 18(range, 12‒36)months. Of the 7 patients, 4 cases reported asymptomatic, 2 cases had symptoms of reflux and 1 case had chocked feeling after eating. All the 7 patients underwent barium meal examination of gastrointestinal tract without anastomotic dysfunction or anastomotic stenosis. Six of the 7 patients underwent gastroscopy at postoperative 1 year and only 1 of them reported grade B reflux esophagitis according to Los Angeles classification, while the rest of 5 patients had no evidence of obvious reflux. None of the 7 patients had postoperative gastric cancer tumor recurrence, metastasis or death.

Conclusion Application of MO‑EG reconstruction in totally laparoscopic radical proximal gastrectomy is safe and feasible, with satisfactory short-term effects.