Application of computer-assisted surgery in pediatric mediastinal tumor surgery

Computer-assisted Surgery system (CAS) is an effective medical imaging simulation tool, which is widely used in preoperative planning of surgery. The objective of this study is to investigate the clinical application of CAS in pediatric mediastinal tumor resection.

This retrospective study investigated 74 children who underwent mediastinal tumor resection between June 2008 and June 2022 at the pediatric surgical center of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University and Qingdao Women and Children's Hospital. Preoperative chest computed tomography imaging was performed on all children. A total of 44 children (the CAS-assisted group) underwent clinical image 3D reconstruction and preoperative simulation using Hisense CAS. The control group consisted of 30 children who underwent a conventional procedure without CAS. The demographic, preoperative, and complication data were analyzed and compared between the two groups. t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, X² test, or Fisher's exact test were used accordingly in this study during analysis.

The median operative duration was 119.00 min in the CAS-assisted group and 140.50 min in the control group. The median intraoperative blood loss of the CAS-assisted group and the control group was 14.00 and 31.00 ml respectively. Relative to the control groups, the CAS-assisted group experienced shorter operative duration time (p = 0.041), and less intraoperative blood loss (p < 0.001). The difference in postoperative drain indwelling between the CAS-assisted group (median:4.00 days) and the control group (median:7.00 days) reached a statistical significance (p = 0.001). And the duration of hospitalization after the operation for the CAS-assisted group (median:7.00 days) was shorter than that for the control group (median:9.00 days) (p = 0.001). No significant difference could be found in the rate of blood transfusion (p = 0.258) and the incidence of postoperative complications (p = 0.719) between the two groups.

Hisense CAS could effectively assist surgeons to clearly determine the anatomical site of tumors and provide accurate preoperative simulation for surgeons, so as to assist surgeons to specify effective surgical plans for patients.