Table 1. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients.
| Demographic parameters | Open esophagectomy (n=52) | MIE (n=55) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | ns | ||
| Male | 43 | 39 | |
| Female | 9 | 16 | |
| Age^ (years) | 62 [42–75] | 62 [34–75] | ns |
| BMI | 24 (±3.7) | 25 (±3.7) | ns |
| Alcohol consumption [(>2 standard drinks/day] | 22 | 21 | ns |
| Smoking | 18 | 16 | ns |
| Respiratory comorbidity | 4 | 6 | ns |
| Diabetes Mellitus | 10 | 8 | ns |
| Cardiac comorbidity | 9 | 14 | ns |
| ASA-classification | ns | ||
| 1 | 14 | 10 | |
| 2 | 31 | 32 | |
| 3 | 6 | 13 | |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Type carcinoma | ns | ||
| Adenocarcinoma | 35 | 33 | |
| Squamous cell carcinoma | 16 | 22 | |
| Other | 1 | 0 | |
| Location of tumor¶ | ns | ||
| Upper third | 2 | 1 | |
| Middle third | 20 | 23 | |
| Lower third/junction | 30 | 30 | |
| Neoadjuvant therapy | ns | ||
| Chemoradiotherapy | 48 | 50 | |
| Chemotherapy alone | 4 | 5 |
MIE, minimally invasive esophagectomy; BMI, body mass index; ASA, American Association of Anesthesiologist classification system; ns, not significant. ^, skewed distribution, median (range), Mann Whitney U test applied; ¶, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) site classification of thoracic and abdominal esophagus, one patient in the MIE group had a cardia carcinoma per-operatively and subsequently underwent a Merendino gastric resection.