Minimally invasive Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy for esophageal cancer with right aortic arch

Right aortic arch (RAA) is a rare congenital vascular abnormality in which the aorta descends in the right thorax and encircles the esophagus. Historically, esophagectomy for patients for RAA is done through a left thoracotomy as exposure and mobilization of the esophagus is difficult through a right thoracotomy. A 73-year-old male was found to have an esophageal adenocarcinoma. Endoscopic ultrasound showed a T3N0 lesion in the lower third of the esophagus. PET CT demonstrated a circumferential lesion without evidence of distant disease or involved lymph nodes and a RAA which was not associated with congenital heart disease or symptoms. The patient received neo-adjuvant chemoradiation (50.4 Gy) with carboplatin and paclitaxel. Minimally invasive Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy (MIE) utilizing conventional right thoracoscopy was done. Esophageal mobilization, transection and mediastinal lymph node dissection was performed through anteriorly placed trocars, thereby avoiding the right side descending aorta that is lying anterior and to the right of the esophagus. In this video we demonstrate MIE utilizing right thoracoscopy. Total operative time was 250 minutes and the patient was discharged home on post-operative day 8. Final pathology showed complete pathological response, with 0/22 involved lymph nodes and uninvolved surgical margins. Minimally invasive esophagectomy has been reported to deliver superior outcomes to the open approach. MIE can be performed in selected patients with RAA, and herein we demonstrate a minimally invasive option for the treatment of distal esophageal cancer in patients with RAA. To our knowledge this is the 1st reported case in the English literature utilizing this approach in patient with RAA.