Synchronous combined oesophagectomy in the 'French' position

Abstract

Synchronous combined esophagectomy has the advantage of both speed and teamwork and avoids the need to turn the patient under anesthetic. Its disadvantage has always been that the abdominal surgeon either operates from the 'wrong side' of the patient with little room for his assistant, or the abdominal and thoracic surgeons an cramped on the same side of the table. We have applied the 'French' position to synchronous combined esophagectomy and found that it effectively creates more space around the operating table as well as allowing excellent access to the upper abdomen. The technique is described.