LECTURES

Online course on esophageal cancer

Tania Triantafyllou, MD.: Multimodal treatment strategies for esophageal carcinoma

Radical esophageal resection is the mainstay of the treatment of esophageal malignancy. Minimally invasive techniques including laparoscopy, thoracoscopy and robot-assisted approaches are evolving aiming to accelerate the postoperative rehabilitation and decrease the morbidity and mortality rates. It is believed that minimally invasive surgery tends to reduce the surgical trauma and results in faster recovery and better quality of life. Furthermore, the various hybrid techniques have been associated with less blood loss and postoperative pain, whereas the length of stay in the intensive care unit and total hospital length of stay are comparable to the standard surgical approach. Whether it leads to better oncological outcomes it remains to be seen.