Role of Total Laryngopharyngoesophagectomy with Gastric Pull Up in the Management of Locally Advanced Hypopharyngeal Cancers

• Published in: Indian journal of otolaryngology, and head, and neck surgery Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 127 - 135
• Main Authors: Devaraja, K., Pujary, Kailesh, Ramaswamy, Balakrishnan, Nayak, Dipak Ranjan, Shenoy, Kallya Rajgopal, Rao, Prerit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01.06.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cancer; Head and Neck Surgery; Larynx; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original; Original Article; Otorhinolaryngology; Throat cancer; Total laryngopharyngectomy; Pharyngeal reconstruction; Hypopharyngeal cancer; Gastric pull-up; Gastric transposition; Jejunal free flap
• ISSN: 2231-3796; 0973-7707
• DOI: 10.1007/s12070-020-01806-z

The current consensus in the management of hypopharyngeal cancers favors the non-surgical management. However, many studies have reported relatively better oncological and functional outcomes with the surgical approach in locally advanced hypopharyngeal cancers. In here, we report a tertiary care center’s experience with total laryngopharyngoesophagectomy with gastric pull-up done for such cases. We also describe a slight modification of the procedure that has been followed at our institute, and discuss its advantages. It is a retrospective study of patients who have undergone the surgical procedure between the September 2016 and the March 2019. The primary objective was to analyze the surgical complications and the benefits in terms of disease clearance, survival duration, and functional outcomes. Study consisted of 15 patients, mostly men, with mean age of 56 years. 12/15 had stage IV disease and 7/15 were failed chemoradiotherapy. Most common complication of surgery was anastomotic failure (33%). Perioperative mortality rate was 13.3%. Higher complications could probably be attributed to poor nutrition and tension over the anastomosis. Mean survival duration and disease free interval were 12.1 and 11 months, respectively. Oral feeds was restored in 77%, and the average time to restore oral feeds was 17 days. Most of our results were comparable with the literature, which supports the surgical excision of larynx–pharynx–esophagus and reconstruction by pull-up, in all those medically fit cases of radio-recurrent/residual tumors, and also in primary cases of locally advanced hypopharyngeal cancers with non-functional larynx. In these scenarios, the radical surgical treatment would atleast serve as palliative if not curative.