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Updated: Sep 23, 2025
Subcostal Specimen Removal in Completely Portal Robotic Lobectomy
Published on: April 19, 2024
Port Placement Strategies for Robotic Pulmonary Lobectomy: A Narrative Review
Sara Parini1, Fabio Massera1, Esther Papalia1
1Division of Thoracic Surgery, Ospedale Maggiore della Carità, 28100 Novara, Italy.
Background:
Despite the use of robotics becoming increasingly popular among thoracic surgeons worldwide, there remains debate over the best robotic approach for lung resections. In this paper, we delineated the main port placement strategies and discussed their advantages and disadvantages.
Methods:
A PubMed literature review was performed using key phrases such as "robotic lobectomy technique", "RATS lobectomy", and "port placement robotic lobectomy". After the final review, 22 articles were included as references, of which 10 described common robotic port mapping techniques.
Results:
Several port strategies for robot-assisted pulmonary lobectomies have been proposed and described in the literature, each showing its own limitations and advantages.
Conclusions:
New robotic surgeons may choose their port strategy according to personal preference and previous surgical experience, especially regarding open or VATS resections. Robust data comparing different port placements in robotic surgery are lacking. Further research should be directed toward comparisons of clinical outcomes with different robotic approaches.
