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Objec t i v e s: Gastric pull-up is a common technique in the
reconstruction of gastrointestinal continuity following
surgery for the primary esophageal and hypopharyngeal
tumors with involvement of the esophagus. We evaluated
the results of surgery in patients with cervical esophageal
and hypopharyngeal cancers.
Pati ents and Methods: Eleven patients (4 women, 7 men;
mean age 46 years; range 18 to 70 years) underwent surgery
for hypopharyngeal and cervical esophageal epidermoid
carcinoma. Surgery included pharyngolaryngoesophagectomy,
subtotal thyroidectomy, and gastric pull-up in all
patients. In addition, nine patients had radical neck dissection
on the involved side and modified radical neck dissection
on the contralateral side. One patient had bilateral radical
neck dissection. Patients who were alive were followedup
for a mean period of 27 months (range 14 to 46 months).
Res u l t s: The one-, two-, and three-year survival rates
were 54% (6/11), 36% (4/11) and 18% (2/11), respectively.
Three patients died from early postoperative
complications, two from organ failure due to locoregional
recurrence (7th month) and to distant metastasis
(11th month).
Conclusion: Despite the small size of the study, the
results favor the use of gastric pull-up in selected
patients with cervical esophageal and hypopharyngeal
cancers.