Preoperative Arterial Embolization Before Oncologic Esophagectomy as a Technique for Ischemic Gastric Conditioning

Measurement of the effectiveness of preoperative ischaemic conditioning in reducing anastomotic leakage in patients undergoing oesophagectomy.

This retrospective monocentric comparative study aims to assess the efficacy of preoperative
 ischemic conditioning, in preventing anastomotic leakage in esophageal cancer surgery. Two
 groups were included : a surgery-alone group (control group) and a PreopAE group (study
 group) treated with an embolization procedure before esophagectomy. Collected data included
 patient characteristics, embolization procedure details, surgical outcomes, and postoperative
 complications.
 
 The primary outcome was the efficacy of preoperative ischemic conditioning in preventing
 anastomotic leakage, assessed through CT scans. Secondary outcomes included analyzing safety
 of ischemic gastric conditioning, hypertrophy of the gastroepiploic artery in embolized
 patients and comparing hospital stay length and postoperative mortality.