1 Department of Surgery, Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, Japan.
2 Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Aichi, Japan.
3 Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
4 Department of General Surgery, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan.
5 Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
6 Department of Oesophageal Surgery, Akita University Hospital, Akita, Japan.
7 Department of Gastrointestinal and Paediatric Surgery, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
8 Department of Surgery, Kindai University, Osaka, Japan.
9 Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, National Kyushu Cancer Centre, Fukuoka, Japan.
10 Department of Oesophageal Surgery, Cancer Institute Hospital of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan.
11 Department of Surgery, Kansai Rosai Hospital, Hyogo, Japan.
12 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
13 Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Aichi, Japan.
14 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Kanazawa University, Ishikawa, Japan.
15 Department of Digestive Surgery, Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan.
16 Division of Gastrointestinal and Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan.
17 Department of Surgery, Kochi Medical School, Kochi, Japan.
18 Clinical Research Centre, National Hospital Organization, Kyoto Medical Centre, Kyoto, Japan.
19 Division of Oesophageal Surgery, National Cancer Centre Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan.