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Trans-hiatal esophagectomy; Trans-thoracic esophagectomy; En bloc esophagectomy; Removal of the esophagus - open
An esophagectomy is surgery to remove part or all of the esophagus, the tube that moves food from your throat to your stomach. After it is removed, the esophagus is rebuilt from part of your stomach or part of your large intestine.
Most of the time, esophagectomy is done to treat cancer of the esophagus.
There are many ways to do this surgery. Talk with your doctor about what type of surgery is best for you. It will depend on where in your esophagus your cancer is, how much it has spread, and how healthy you are.
Laparoscopy is one way to do this surgery. A laparoscope is a tiny camera that is inserted into your belly through a small incision. See also: Esophagectomy - minimally invasive
Open surgery is another way to do an esophagectomy. Two ways to do an esophagectomy using open surgery are:
Trans-hiatal esophagectomy:
Trans-thoracic esophagectomy:
Your surgeon may also examine and do a biopsy of the lymph nodes in your belly to see if your cancer has spread to them.
En bloc esophagectomy is another type of esophagectomy. It is the most invasive of all of these procedures.
Most of these operations take about 3 hours.
Maish M. Esophagus. In: Townsend CM, Beauchamp RD, Evers BM, Mattox KL, eds. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2008:chap 41.