Motoyama Satoru, Sato Yusuke, Wakita Akiyuki, Kawakita Yuta, Nagaki Yushi, Imai Kazuhiro, Minamiya Yoshihiro
Esophageal Surgery, Akita University Hospital, Akita, Japan
Thoracic Surgery, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Akita, Japan.
Anticancer Res. 2019 Mar;39(3):1337-1342. doi: 10.21873/anticanres.13246.
BACKGROUND/AIM: The potential advantages of robot-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy (RATE) have yet to be verified. This study focused on the degree of lymph node dissection around the left recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN).
A total of 21 consecutive patients who received RATE (RATE group) and 38 who received conventional thoracoscopic esophagectomy (TE) (TE group), both with extended lymphadenectomy, for thoracic squamous cell esophageal carcinoma, were enrolled in this study. We compared the numbers of lymph nodes dissected from the mediastinum, especially around the left RLN.
The median number of lymph nodes dissected from around the left RLN was 6 in the RATE group and 4 in the TE group, and the ratio of the dissected lymph nodes around the left RLN to all lymph nodes was significantly higher in the RATE group (p=0.048).
Our findings indicate that a robot-assisted surgical system enables for more extensive dissection of lymph nodes around the left RLN.
背景/目的：机器人辅助胸腔镜食管癌切除术（RATE）的潜在优势尚未得到证实。本研究聚焦于左喉返神经（RLN）周围的淋巴结清扫程度。
本研究纳入了连续21例接受RATE的患者（RATE组）和38例接受传统胸腔镜食管癌切除术（TE）的患者（TE组），两组均行扩大淋巴结清扫术治疗胸段食管鳞状细胞癌。我们比较了纵隔淋巴结清扫数量，特别是左RLN周围的淋巴结清扫数量。
RATE组左RLN周围清扫淋巴结的中位数为6个，TE组为4个，RATE组左RLN周围清扫淋巴结与所有淋巴结的比例显著更高（p=0.048）。
我们的研究结果表明，机器人辅助手术系统能够更广泛地清扫左RLN周围的淋巴结。
