Review of Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy and Current Controversies

Esophagectomy is a complex operation with significant morbidity and mortality. Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) was described in the 1990s in an effort to reduce operative morbidity. Since then many institutions have adopted and described their series with this technique. This paper reviews the literature on the variety of MIE techniques, clinical and quality of life outcomes with open versus MIE, and controversies surrounding MIE—such as prone positioning, stapling techniques, size of the gastric conduit, and robotic techniques.