Table 3. Intraoperative and postoperative outcomes.

Variables	TLE (n=94) (%)	OE (n=89) (%)	P value
Operating time (min)	251.3±45.4	247.8±44.1	0.617^b
Blood loss (mL)	182.6±78.3	261.4±87.2	<0.001^b
Transfusion (No. of patient)	5 (5.3)	14 (15.7)	0.021^a
Reoperations	2 (2.1)	3 (3.4)	0.951^a
Overall surgical morbidity	24 (25.5)	41 (46.1)	0.004^a
Overall pulmonary complication	9 (9.6)	24 (27.0)	0.002^a
Anastomotic leakage	6 (6.4)	7 (7.9)	0.696^a
RLN*-injury	4 (4.3)	4 (4.5)	0.937^a
Chylothorax	3 (3.2)	4 (4.5)	0.646^a
Diaphragmatocele	2 (2.1)	0 (0)	0.501^a
Cardiac arrhythmia	4 (4.1)	11 (12.4)	0.046^a
Delayed gastric emptying	2 (2.1)	2 (2.2)	1.000^a
Post-operative mortality^†	1 (1.1)	4 (4.5)	0.155^a
ICU stay (No. of patient)	9 (9.6)	13 (14.6)	0.295^a
Hospital stay (day)	13.9±7.5	17.1±10.2	0.017^b

RLN*, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury; ^†, death within 30 days following the operation; ^a, χ² test; ^b, student’s t-test.