William Osler Health Centre now offers
GTA patients highly specialized cancer surgery option

March 2, 2007, Brampton/Etobicoke, ON: In January 2007, William Osler Health Centre began offering a technologically advanced form of surgery for Toronto area patients who have operable esophageal cancer. The procedure, known as minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE), results in much less post-operative pain for patients than conventional esophageal surgery.

Currently, the primary way to treat cancer of the esophagus if the disease has not spread is through traditional open esophagectomy. This involves removing cancerous parts of the esophagus via 2 or 3 incisions in the abdomen, chest and sometimes neck. This type of surgery has a relatively high morbidity and mortality rate and involves a lengthy recovery period with significant pain and discomfort. With MIE, a total of 8 incisions are necessary, but these are very small and the surgery does not require cutting through any major muscles.

The key advantage to MIE, as with other minimally invasive procedures, is that patients experience less post-operative pain. There is also less risk of damage to muscle/tissue or vocal chords, and the recovery period is quicker. (However, not all patients are suitable candidates for this approach.)

Since MIE is technically very demanding, only a few centres in the world perform it. Thoracic surgeons at Osler believe that the addition of MIE to the range of surgical services available at the health centre will provide many patients in the Greater Toronto Area with a new option for treatment of esophageal cancer.