Robot-assisted esophageal surgery using the da Vinci® Xi system: operative technique and initial experiences.

In this review, we would like to illustrate our experience with the da Vinci® Xi system in case of esophageal surgery. Since the da Vinci® Xi system was installed in our department, it has resulted in a great improvement in cases of minimally invasive surgery. After the successful establishment in the field of colorectal surgery, the next step was surgery of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Due to the features of the robotic system, we can definitely observe the advantages and a positive effect in case of minimal invasive esophagectomy (MIE). We have also tried to develop an adequate surgical standard of the robotic-assisted minimal invasive esophagectomy with the da Vinci® Xi.