Impact of Thoracic Duct Resection on Long-Term Survival After Esophagectomy: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis

Radical esophagectomy, including thoracic duct resection (TDR), has been proposed to improve regional lymphadenectomy and possibly reduce the risk of locoregional recurrence. However, because of its impact on immunoregulation, some authors have expressed concerns about its possible detrimental effect on long-term survival. The purpose of this review was to assess the influence of TDR on long-term survival.

PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched through 15 March 2024. Overall survival (OS), cancer specific survival (CSS), and disease-free survival (DFS) were primary outcomes. Restricted mean survival time difference (RMSTD), risk ratio (RR), standardized mean difference (SMD), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used as pooled effect size measures. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) methodology was employed to evaluate the certainty of evidence.

The analysis included six studies with 5756 patients undergoing transthoracic esophagectomy. TDR was reported in 49.1%. Patients’ ages ranged from 27 to 79 years and 86% were males. At 4-year follow-up, the multivariate meta-analysis showed similar results for the comparison noTDR versus TDR in term of OS [− 0.8 months, 95% confidence interval (CI) − 3.1, 1.3], CSS (0.1 months, 95% CI − 0.9, 1.2), and DFS (1.5 months, 95% CI − 2.6, 5.5). TDR was associated with a significantly higher number of harvested mediastinal lymph nodes (SMD 0.57, 95% CI 0.01–1.13) and higher risk of postoperative chylothorax (RR = 1.32; 95% CI 1.04–2.23). Anastomotic leak and pulmonary complications were comparable.

TDR seems not to improve long-term OS, CSS, and DFS regardless of tumor stage. Routine TDR should not be routinely recommended during esophagectomy.