Faculty Bibliography

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:Robotic lobectomy is an increasingly common surgical approach for anatomic lung resection. Over the last decade, robotic lobectomy has shown to be safe, with oncologic efficacy similar to lobectomy via thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Comparative analysis between these modalities is an active area of investigation. While initially expensive, the costs of a robotic platform decrease as the number of operations performed increases, length of stay is shortened, and postoperative morbidity is reduced. Moreover, the added cost has value which is defined over long periods of time. Areas covered: The clinical technique and optimal conduct of lobectomy is explained in granular detail for all five types of lobectomies. The advantages and disadvantages of a robotic platform are analyzed, including a review of the recent literature. Expert commentary: The number of robotic pulmonary resections performed has tripled in the past two years. Anticipated developments in robotic surgery include improvements in robotic training, continued refinement of robotic instrumentation, and additional adjunctive technologies. The overall costs of robotic surgery will decrease, in part, due to increasing competition as additional companies enter the market.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate the impact of early oral feeding (EOF) on postoperative cardiac, respiratory, and gastrointestinal (CRG) complications after McKeown minimally invasive esophagectomy for esophageal cancer. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Nil-by-mouth with enteral tube feeding is routinely practiced after esophagectomy. METHODS: Patients were randomly allocated to receive oral feeding on the first postoperative day (EOF group) or late oral feeding (LOF group) 7 days after surgery. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of postoperative CRG complications, and the secondary outcomes included bowel function recovery and short-term quality of life (QOL). RESULTS: Between February 2014 and October 2015, 280 patients were enrolled in this study. There were 140 patients in the EOF group and 140 patients in the LOF group. EOF was noninferior to LOF for CRG complications (30.0% in the EOF group vs. 32.9% in the LOF group; 95% confidence interval of the difference: -13.8% to 8.0%). Compared with the LOF group, the EOF group showed significantly shorter time to first flatus (median of 2 days vs. 3 days, P = 0.001) and bowel movement (median of 3 vs. 4 days, P < 0.001). Two weeks after the operation, patients in the EOF group reported higher global QOL and function scores and lower symptom scores than patients in the LOF group. CONCLUSIONS: In patients after McKeown minimally invasive esophagectomy is noninferior to the standard of care with regard to postoperative CRG complications. In addition, patients in the EOF group had a quicker recovery of bowel function and improved short-term QOL.

Robotic segmentectomy can be a useful technique for patients with suboptimal pulmonary reserve, or for small peripheral stage I tumors. Port placement and conduct of operation is described for the various segmentectomies. Results for robotic segmentectomy are comparable to that for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) segmentectomy.

BACKGROUND:Our objective is to show the effect that standardization of surgical trays has on the number of instruments sterilized and on cost. METHODS:We reviewed our most commonly used surgical trays with the 3 general thoracic surgeons in our division and agreed upon the least number of surgical instruments needed for mediastinoscopy, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, robotic thoracic surgery, and thoracotomy. RESULTS:We removed 59 of 79 instruments (75%) from the mediastinoscopy tray, 45 of 73 (62%) from the video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery tray, 51 of 84 (61%) from the robotic tray, and 50 of 113 (44%) from the thoracotomy tray. From January 2016 to December 2016, the estimated savings by procedure were video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (n = 398) $21,890, robotic tray (n = 231) $19,400, thoracotomy (n = 163) $15,648, and mediastinoscopy (n = 162) $12,474. Estimated total savings were $69,412. The weight of the trays was reduced 70%, and the nonsteamed sterilization rate (opened trays that needed to be reprocessed) decreased from 2% to 0%. None of the surgeons requested any of the removed instruments. CONCLUSIONS:Standardization of thoracic surgical trays is possible despite having multiple thoracic surgeons. This process of lean (the removal of nonvalue steps or equipment) reduces the number of instruments cleaned and carried and reduces cost. It may also reduce the incidence of "wet loads" that require the resterilization of instruments.