Procedure

Video robotic lobectomy

Division of Thoracic Surgery - Cardiac and Thoracic Department of Surgery, University of Pisa, Via Paradisa 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy

^* Corresponding author: ^* Tel.: +39-050-995211; fax: +39-050-9957239. E-mail: f.melfi{at}med.unipi.it

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is beneficial to the patient but challenging for the surgeon. Recently, robots have been introduced into surgical procedures in an attempt to facilitate surgical performance. The da Vinci^TM Robotic System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc, CA, USA) is one of these robots. It consists of a console and a surgical cart supporting three articulated robotic arms. The surgeon sits at the console where he manipulates the joystick handles while observing the operating field through binoculars that provide a three-dimensional image. Improved ergonomic conditions and instrument mobility at the level of distal articulation seem beneficial in thoracic procedures. After a period of technical development and training we used the robotic systems to treat patients with various thoracic diseases. We focused our efforts on the development of this technique in thoracic surgery particularly to perform video robotic lobectomy (VRL).

Key Words: Robotic surgery • Thoracoscopy • Lobectomy • VATS