Application of robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy for patients with esophageal cancer / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

@#Objective To present the initial clinical experience of robot-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy for patients with esophageal cancer and to analyze the short-term outcomes of these patients. Methods Between February 2016 and December 2017, 148 patients with esophageal carcinoma underwent robotic esophagectomy and two-fields lymph node dissection. There were 126 males and 22 females at average age of 62.0±8.0 years. Demographic data, intraoperative characteristics and short-term surgical outcomes were collected and analyzed. Results 106 patients underwent McKeown esophagectomy and 42 patients underwent Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy. The mean operation time was 336.0±76.0 min, the mean intraoperative blood loss was 130.0±89.0 ml, the mean number of lymph nodes removed was 21.0±8.0 and the mean length of postoperative hospital-stay was 12.0±7.2 days. Postoperative complications included anastomotic fistula (n=8, 5.4%), pulmonary infection (n=13, 8.7%), hoarseness (n=23, 15.5%), tracheoesophageal fistula (n=1, 0.7%), chylothorax (n=4, 2.7%) and incision infection (n=2, 1.4%). There was no intra-operational massive hemorrhage or in-hospital mortality. Conclusion Both robot-assisted McKeown and Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy are safe and feasible with good early outcomes.