Endoscopic Internal Drainage and Low Negative Pressure Endoscopic Vacuum Therapy for anastomotic leaks after oncologic upper gastrointestinal surgery

Background: Endoscopic internal drainage (EID) with double pigtail stents and low negative pressure endoscopic vacuum therapy (EVT) are treatment options for leakages after upper GI oncologic surgery. We aimed to compare the effectiveness of these techniques. Patients and methods: Between 2016 and 2019, patients treated with EID in five centers in France and with EVT in Göttingen, Germany were included and retrospectively analyzed using univariate analysis. Pigtails were changed every 4 weeks, EVT was repeated every 3-4 days until leak closure. Results: 35 EID and 27 EVT patients were included, with a median leak size of 0.75 cm (0.5-1.5). Overall treatment success was 100% [CI 90; 100] in EID vs. 85.2% [CI 66.3; 95.8] in EVT, p=0.03. The median number of endoscopic procedures was 2 (2; 3) vs. 3 (2; 6.5), p<0.01 and the median treatment duration was 42 (28; 60) vs. 17 days (7.5; 28), p<0.01, for EID vs. EVT, respectively. Conclusion: EID and EVT provide high closure rates for upper GI anastomotic leakages. EVT provides a shorter treatment duration at the cost of a higher number of procedures.