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OBJECTIVE: To report our experience with starting a robotic thoracic surgery program at our institution
METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed our experience in performing robotic thoracic surgery on a consecutive series of patients
RESULTS: Between July 2012 and October 2014, 74 patients underwent robotic operations. The types of procedures included lung resections ( n = 34 ), mediastinal mass resection ( n = 19 ) , thymectomy (n=17) and lymph node biopsies (n=4). There were no conversions for bleeding in patients undergoing mediastinal mass resections, thymectomy or lymph node biopsies. Six patients required conversion for lung resection ( 2 were for bleeding). The median operative time for lung resection was 155 minutes, and median length of stay was 4 days. The median operative time for mediastinal mass resection and thymectomy was 75 and 105 minutes respectively. Median length of stay for mediastinal mass resection and thymectomy was 2 days. There were no operative deaths and morbidity occurred in 7 (9.4%) of patients.
CONCLUSIONS: Robotic thoracic surgery can be performed safely with minimal morbidity and mortality. It remains a team effort and all personnel in the operating room should receive appropriate training. Appropriate training and credentialing of surgeons remains a contentious and difficult issue to resolve with a lack of adequate training centres in South-East Asia.