Robot-assisted thymectomy is superior to transsternal thymectomy.
Surg Endosc
; 26(1): 261-6, 2012 Jan.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21898017
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Complete thymectomy is the procedure of choice in the treatment of thymomas and in treating selected patients with myasthenia gravis. Transsternal thymectomy is the gold standard for most patients. Robot-assisted thymectomy has emerged as an alternative to open transsternal surgery. The goal of this study was to compare perioperative outcomes in patients who underwent transsternal or robot-assisted thymectomy.METHODS:
We performed a retrospective review of all patients who underwent robot-assisted or transsternal thymectomy at our institution from February 2001 to February 2010. Data are presented as mean ± SD. Significance was set as P < 0.05.RESULTS:
Fifty patients underwent either transsternal (n = 35) or robot-assisted (n = 15) thymectomy. Patient demographics and the incidence of myasthenia gravis were similar between groups. There were no intraoperative complications or conversions to open surgery in the robot-assisted group. Intraoperative blood loss was significantly higher in the transsternal group (151.43 vs. 41.67 ml, P = 0.01). There were 20 postoperative complications and 1 postoperative death in the transsternal group and 1 postoperative complication in the robot-assisted group (P = 0.001). Hospital length of stay was 4 days (range 2-27 days) in the transsternal group and 1 day (range 1-7 days) in the robot-assisted group (P = 0.002).CONCLUSIONS:
Robot-assisted thymectomy is superior to transsternal thymectomy, reducing intraoperative blood loss, postoperative complications, and hospital length of stay. Further investigation of the long-term oncologic results in thymoma patients and long-term remission rates in patients with myasthenia gravis who underwent robot-assisted thymectomy is warranted.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Thymectomy
/
Thymoma
/
Thymus Neoplasms
/
Robotics
/
Sternotomy
/
Myasthenia Gravis
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Evaluation_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Surg Endosc
Journal subject:
DIAGNOSTICO POR IMAGEM
/
GASTROENTEROLOGIA
Year:
2012
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States