The surgical treatment of cancer of the cervical esophagus: complications and preliminary results.

Out of 129 cancers of the cervical esophagus, 74 (57%) were resected. After laryngopharyngectomy and segmentary esophagectomy, the reconstruction was performed by substernal coloplasty in 18 cases and by free bowel autotransplantation in 18. When total esophagectomy was performed, pharyngogastroplasty was performed in 32 cases and pharyngocoloplasty in seven. The total postoperative death rate was 18.9%. In cases of segmentary resection the three-year survival rate was 14.34% and 15.87% in cases of total esophagectomy.