Central ligation or partial preservation of the right gastric artery does not seem to affect conduit or anastomotic perfusion during robot-assisted resection of gastroesophageal junction cancer: a randomized clinical trial

The gastric conduit can be created with partial preservation or a central ligation of the right gastric artery. Central ligation may facilitate complete removal of lymph node (LN) station 3; however, whether this influences conduit and anastomotic perfusion is unknown. Hence this study investigated whether a central ligation of the right gastric artery would affect conduit or anastomotic perfusion compared with partial preservation (local standard) during robot-assisted resection of gastroesophageal junction cancer. Patients scheduled for robot-assisted resection of gastroesophageal junction cancer were randomized to either central ligation or partial preservation of the right gastric artery. Perfusion was assessed using quantified indocyanine green angiography: before gastric mobilization, after conduit formation, and after anastomosis. Hemodynamic variables during surgery and surgical outcomes were recorded. We included 70 patients between June 2020 and October 2021, of whom 5 were excluded from the final analysis. The two patient groups did not differ in conduit (0.07 [interquartile range (IQR), 0.05–0.08] vs. 0.07 u [IQR, 0.05–0.08], P = 0.86) or anastomotic perfusion (0.08 [standard deviation (SD), ±0.02] vs. 0.08 u [SD, ±0.02], P = 0.21), nor did they differ in intraoperative blood loss, anastomotic leaks, postoperative complications, or 1-year survival. However, more LNs were resected in the central ligation group (36 [IQR, 30–44] vs. 28 [IQR, 23–43], P = 0.02). Introducing a central ligation of the right gastric artery did not seem to affect conduit or anastomotic perfusion, compared with partial preservation. However, significantly more LNs were resected.