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Ann Thorac Surg 2002;74:1917-1922
© 2002 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Department of Visceral and Vascular Surgery, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Accepted for publication July 2, 2002.
* Address reprint requests to Dr Schröder, Department of Visceral and Vascular Surgery, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann Str 9, 50931 Cologne, Germany.
e-mail: wolfgang.schroeder{at}uni-koeln.de
BACKGROUND: Gastroplasty after esophagectomy is associated with relevant morbidity due to anastomotic leakage of the esophagogastrostomy. The aim of this study was to find out whether continuous partial carbon dioxide pressure (pCO2) measurement of the gastric mucosa is an adequate method of monitoring the gastric tube during the postoperative course and of detecting patients with an anastomotic leakage.
METHODS: Forty-seven patients with esophageal cancer underwent esophagectomy and gastric tube formation with intrathoracic esophagogastrostomy. Postoperatively, mucosal pCO2 of the gastric tube (pCO2i) was measured using continuous tonometry (TONOCAP, Datex Ohmeda). pCO2i was related to the arterial pCO2 (
pCO2 = pCO2i - pCO2a).
RESULTS: A total of 4,338
pCO2 measurements were recorded. On average, the pCO2i of each patient was monitored over a period of 92 hours. In 5 patients an anastomotic leakage of the esophagogastrostomy developed. The mean
pCO2 of this group was 31.7 mm Hg (±19.3 SD) and significantly higher (p < 0.0001) than that of patients without anastomotic leakage (20.7 mm Hg ± 12.8 SD). With a
pCO2 cut-off point of 56 mm Hg measured for 5 hours, the sensitivity was 0.8, the specifity 0.9, and the positive predictive value 0.5. In patients with anastomotic leakage, the peak
pCO2 preceded clinical symptoms. False positive
pCO2 measurements (n = 4) were mainly due to severe pneumonia with long-term ventilation.
CONCLUSIONS: Mucosal pCO2 measurement of the gastric tube can be used as an early indicator of a complicated postoperative course predicting anastomotic leakage of the esophagogastrostomy.
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