Therapeutic Endoscopy Following Radical Treatment of Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Cancer at Rīga East University Hospital

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of therapeutic endoscopy in Rīga East University Hospital “Gaiļezers” and Oncology Centre of Latvia in oesophageal and gastric cancer patients who underwent radical oesophagectomy and gastrectomy. A group of 22 patients was selected, who underwent oesophagectomy and gastrectomy and had developed complications such as anastamotic leak, anastamotic bleeding and stricture, and required endoscopic intervention. For statistical analysis, IBM SPSS and MS Excel programmes were used. The authors tested for correlation between patient age, diagnosis, stage of cancer, type of surgery, and particular complications, used endoscopic manipulations, repeated procedures, endoscopic success rate and mortality. Age, diagnosis and stage of cancer did not show statistically significant correlation with the previously mentioned factors. The type of surgery had one statistically significant correlation with bleeding complication (Fisher’s Exact test p = 0.040). In the Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy group there were no patients with anastamosis bleeding. The type of surgery had no statistically significant difference in stent placement rate, defect closure, endoscopic dilation, repeated procedures, mortality, and successful endoscopic outcome. Complications in the selected group and efficiency of endoscopic methods were compared to other studies in scientific literature, which showed similar results. It was concluded that in the future, implementation of new endoscopic techniques, such as pENPT, VAC stents, OTSC haemoclips and haemostatic powders, can be used to improve treatment results.