Short-term outcomes of uniportal robotic-assisted thoracic surgery anatomic pulmonary resections: experience of Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital

Abstract

Background: To share our experience of uniportal robotic-assisted thoracic surgery (U-RATS) anatomic pulmonary resection. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to compare the efficacy of U-RATS and biportal-RATS (B-RATS; 2 ports). From March 2021 to June 2022, 109 patients were enrolled in this study. The perioperative results of U-RATS and B-RATS were compared. Results: Perioperative outcomes were comparable between the two groups, including the length of hospital stay and the rate of post-operative (post-op) complications. The mean duration of surgery of the two groups were 124.1 vs. 103.6 min (P=0.049), mean intraoperative blood loss was 131.7 vs. 143.1 mL, mean post-op hospital stay was 3.83 vs. 3.05 days (P=0.037), and the thoracic drainage of the first day after surgery were 230.9 vs. 207.1 mL. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores after the first post-op day were 3.83 vs. 4.57 (P=0.018). No perioperative mortality occurred in either group. Conclusions: Both U-RATS and B-RATS are safe and feasible methods for major pulmonary resections. U-RATS achieved similar perioperative outcomes and lower VAS-scores for the patients, which may improve the post-op experience and the quality of patients' lives. Further follow-up investigations are required to evaluate the long-term efficacy of U-RATS.

Uniportal robotic assisted surgery for anatomical lung resection—First German experience

“…It may be cheaper, less painful, and allow easier management in case of emergency. 11 Apart from the group, that introduced the uniportal robotic approach, there have been very few publications on uniportal RATS, [12][13][14] and it remains uncertain whether this technique and teaching can be replicated and implemented in different settings by different surgeons. The purpose of this paper is to report our first experience with the uniportal robotic approach for anatomic lung resections performed by a single surgeon.…”