Short and long term outcomes of oesophagectomy in a provincial New Zealand hospital.

BACKGROUND: Oesophagectomy is a complex procedure associated with a significant morbidity and mortality rate. There is very little published data from New Zealand, with no published data from a non-Tertiary New Zealand hospital. We aimed to evaluate the outcomes of oesophagectomy at a single provincial hospital in New Zealand. METHOD: Retrospective review of clinical records of all patients who underwent oesophagectomy at Palmerston North Hospital (a level II provincial New Zealand public hospital) between 1993 and 2010 was performed. Demographic data, operative details, postoperative recovery parameters, survival data, pathological data, and details of adjuvant treatment were collected. RESULTS: Data from all 68 patients who underwent oesophagectomy were included. Mean age was 63.6 plus or minus 10.9 years, and 69% of patients were male. Mean operating time was 438.37 plus or minus 101.8 min, and mean intraoperative blood loss was 934.5 plus or minus 790.2 ml. Median intensive care unit stay was 7 (1-29) days, and total day stay was 17.5 (4-60) days. Tracheostomy was performed in 20 patients (29.4%). Anastomotic leak occurred in 7 patients (10.3%), chylothorax in 6 patients (8.8%) and cardiopulmonary complications in 34 patients (50.0%). The all cause in-hospital mortality rate was 4.4%. Overall survival at 30 days was 98.5%, at 1 year was 78.3% and at 5 years was 30.3%. CONCLUSION: Survival outcomes of oesophagectomy in this provincial New Zealand hospital are comparable to published series from national and international tertiary centres.