To evaluate the clinical effects of a new method for the placement of feeding tubes in the treatment of esophageal cancer with Ivor-Lewis surgery.

A total of 117 cases with esophageal cancer in the same surgery group from January 2013 to December 2016 were collected from Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University. Before March 2015, 49 cases of enteral nutrition were treated with jejunostomy. After that date, 68 cases were treated with the new method of Nose-Duodenal feeding tube placement. Tube-placement time, tube-carrying comfort, the incidence of anastomotic leakage, pulmonary infection, and complications related to the nutrition tube were compared.

Nutrition tube were successfully placed for 117 cases. One case with nose-duodenal feeding tube placement failed. There were no hospital deaths in the two groups. The duration of operation was significantly shorter in the nose-duodenal tube group than in the jejunostomy group [(6.2±1.8) min vs (18.2±8.2) min, P<0.05]. The incidence of throat discomfort in patients with nose-duodenal tube was significantly higher than that in the jejunostomy group (36.8% vs 16.3%, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of pulmonary infection, nausea and vomiting, and anastomotic leakage between the two groups (P>0.05). No postoperative gastric emptying and acute gastric dilatation occurred. Two patients in the jejunostomy group had abdominal wall fistula leakage (1 case was eventually extirpated due to multiple exudates), and 2 patients had incomplete intestinal obstruction; One patient in the nose-duodenal tube group had irritability after surgery. One patient pulled out the stomach tube and duodenal nutrition tube due to anxiety.

In the treatment of esophageal cancer, the use of nose-duodenal nutrition tube placement method is simple, less traumatic, shorter, with fewer complications and good clinical results.