Firefly robotic lung volume reduction surgery: case report

Abstract

Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) is an effective palliative treatment option in patients with severe emphysema. Minimal-invasive techniques including video-assisted and robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lower postoperative morbidity. Besides pre-operative selection of surgical candidates, identifying the target zone for lunge volume resection is one of the key issues. Thoracoscopic near-infrared technologies using intravenously injected dye might help to show these target zones by unmasking the perfusion mismatch analogous to emphysema morphology. Therefore, resection of too much lung tissue might be avoided.