Is left-side DaVinci™ procedure challenging? Initial experiences of a single institute

Among the standard techniques for anatomical lung cancer resection, left upper lobectomy has been regarded as challenging by thoracic surgeons. Thus, this study aimed to examine whether laterality of robot-assisted thoracoscopic procedures has any influence on the incidence of conversion to thoracotomy, operation time, amount of bleeding, and postoperative complications in the introduction phase of this procedure.

The first consecutive 65 patients (right upper/middle/lower lobe with 31/3/15 cases, left upper/lower lobe with 10/6 cases) who underwent robot-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy from December 2011 to April 2019 in Kyoto University were retrospectively reviewed.

Five cases were converted to open thoracotomy, including four for the left upper lobectomy and one for the right lower lobectomy (p = 0.011). The mean operation time was 229.9 ± 53.9 min (n = 12) and 192.8 ± 53.1 min (n = 48) for the left-sided and right-sided procedures, respectively (p = 0.043, conversion cases were not included). The mean bleeding amount was 29.1 ± 75.7 g (n = 49) and 136.8 ± 330.9 g (n = 16) for the right side and left side, respectively (p = 0.036). The mean operation time (min) for each lobe was as follows: 253.5 ± 73.9 for the left upper lobe (n = 6), 206.3 ± 41.3 for the left lower lobe (n = 6), 189.7 ± 51.3 for the right upper lobe (n = 31), 192.3 ± 57.5 for the right middle lobe (n = 3), and 199.9 ± 61.8 for the right lower lobe (n = 14).

Robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery on the left side was associated with higher conversion rate, longer operation time, and more blood loss than that on the right side.