• Mark van Heijl, J J B Jan van Lanschot, Rachel L G M Blom, Jacques J G H M Bergman, Fiebo J W ten Kate, Olivier R C Busch, J B Hans Reitsma, Huug Obertop, and Mark I van Berge Henegouwen.
• Academisch Medisch Centrum, Afd: Chirurgie, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2010 Jan 1; 154: A1156.

ObjectiveTo assess trends in patient characteristics and treatment outcomes in a large cohort of patients who underwent oesophagectomy for oesophageal carcinoma in a tertiary referral centre over a period of 16 years.DesignRetrospective cohort study.MethodsWe carried out a trend analysis on collected data on demographic and clinico-pathological characteristics, complications and survival of patients who underwent oesophagectomy between January 1993 and December 2008 at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam (AMC), the Netherlands. Patients were subsequently divided into three comparably-sized groups according to the year of operation: group 1 (1993-1998; n = 332), group 2 (1999-2004; n = 312), and group 3 (2005-2008; n = 296).ResultsA total of 940 patients underwent oesophagectomy during the total study period. Transhiatal oesophagectomy was performed more often during the first two time periods (65 and 64%, respectively), while the transthoracic approach was used more often in the third period (53%). The proportion of patients who underwent a microscopically radical resection increased significantly over the three periods of time. In-hospital mortality in all three periods was low, between 3.2%-3.4%. The three-year survival rate improved significantly over the three periods (p = 0.018), from 42% and 48% to 53% in the most recent period.ConclusionOver the past 16 years in-hospital mortality in patients undergoing oesophagectomy for a potentially curable oesophageal carcinoma at the AMC, has been stably low. The total number of complications increased during these periods. Long-term survival improved during this time to a three-year overall survival of more than 50% in the most recent period.

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