Objective   To observe the clinical effect of biomaterial patch in strengthening anastomotic repair during radical resection of esophageal cancer.

  Methods   Totally 52 esophageal cancer patients receiving radical resection were involved in the retrospective study, and their data was retrospectively analyzed. These patients were randomly divided into patch group(n= 25) and control group(n=27). The patients of the patch group were reinforced with the biomaterial patch after esophagogastric stump anastomosis, while those of control group didn't use biomaterial patch. The intraoperative blood loss, operation time, first flatus time, first defecation time, length of hospital stay and incidence of postoperative complications were recorded in the patch group and the control group.

  Results   The incidence of incision infection in the patch group was significantly lower than that in the control group(P < 0.05). No esophageal tracheal fistula occurred in the patch group, while 1 case occurred sophageal tracheal fistula in the control group. There were no statistically differences between two groups in the incidence rates of pulmonary infection, anastomotic leakage and anastomotic stenosis, operative time, first flatus time and hospitalization time(P > 0.05).

  Conclusion   The application of biomaterial patch to repair anastomotic stoma during esophageal cancer surgery is helpful to reduce the incidence of incision infection.