Preclinical study of transcervical upper mediastinal dissection for esophageal malignancy by robot‐assisted surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Robotic surgical systems are potentially applicable to transcervical mediastinal lymph dissection for esophageal malignancy. METHODS: Robot-assisted surgery was performed on a male fresh-frozen human cadaver. Devices for single-port laparoscopic surgery were deployed via one small incision in the left clavicular area. The task for the robot-assisted surgery was the upper mediastinal dissection to the level of the left main bronchus and en bloc harvest of the lymph nodes adherent to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. RESULTS: An up-angled 30° scope in the 6 o'clock port and two robotic arms from the 3 and 9 o'clock ports worked effectively together. No collisions of the devices inside the cadaveric body or unexpected traumatic events occurred. CONCLUSION: The robotic surgical system can be used safely for the upper mediastinal dissection. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.