Proximal Gastrectomy Versus Total Gastrectomy for Siewert II/III Adenocarcinoma of the Gastroesophageal Junction: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG) has rapidly increased in recent years. Popular surgical approaches for AEG are proximal gastrectomy (PG) and total gastrectomy (TG), but it is controversial as to which approach is superior. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the short- and long-term clinical outcomes of PG and TG for AEG. Methods PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched from inception to 1 June 2021. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to conduct quality assessments, and RevMan (Version 5.4) was used to perform the meta-analysis. Results In all, 1,734 patients with Siewert II/III AEG in 12 studies were included in the meta-analysis. PG was associated with less number of harvested lymph nodes (WMD = - 9.00, 95% CI - 12.61 to - 5.39, P < 0.00001), smaller tumor size (WMD = - 1.02, 95% CI - 1.71 to - 0.33, P = 0.004), shorter hospital length of stay (WMD = - 3.99, 95% CI - 7.27 to - 0.71, P = 0.02), and better long-term nutritional status compared with TG. Overall complications, other complications, and overall survival were not significantly different between the two groups. Moreover, subgroup analysis revealed that the occurrence of anastomotic strictures and reflux esophagitis was associated with the use of novel gastrointestinal tract (GI) anastomoses (double-tract reconstruction, jejunal interposition, and semi-embedded valve anastomosis) after PG. Conclusions Based on the available evidence, we recommend that surgeons accept PG combined with multiple novel anastomoses as an optimal surgical approach in patients diagnosed with resectable Siewert type II/III AEG.