Could a Feeding Jejunostomy be Integrated into a Standardized Preoperative Management of Oeso-gastric Junction Adenocarcinoma?

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of a feeding jejunostomy (FJ) on the preoperative management of patients with an oesogastric adenocarcinoma (OGA).

METHODS: From January 2007 to December 2014, patients with potentially resectable OGA were enrolled in a perioperative chemotherapy protocol. FJ was performed before starting perioperative treatments in patients presenting with dysphagia or with a nutritional risk index (NRI) <97.5. The patients who did not require a FJ served as a control group.

RESULTS: Among the 114 patients with OGA consecutively admitted in our surgical department, 88 (77.2%) were enrolled for neoadjuvant treatment. A FJ was placed in 50 patients (56.8%) before the neoadjuvant treatment (FJ group), whereas 38 patients (43.2%) started neoadjuvant treatments without FJ (control group). Ninety-six percent of patients (n = 48) in the FJ group successfully completed the neoadjuvant treatment but only 81.6% of patients without FJ (n = 31; p = 0.004). The FJ group was divided between responders: 37 patients with a weight response (74%), and nonresponders: 13 patients without weight response (26%). In the FJ group, the nutritional response during preoperative chemotherapy was a significant predictive factor for the achievement of second stage oesogastric resection (p = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS: FJ with enteral nutritional support during the preoperative management of OGA is a safe and effective support for the completion of the preoperative chemotherapy. The weight response to the enteral support is a predictor factor for a completion of the preoperative chemotherapy and could identify a group of patients who would have a better chance of reaching radical surgery.