Usefulness of final transection of the proximal pulmonary artery in robotic left upper lobectomy

The pulmonary artery runs around the left upper bronchus, which poses the risk of blood vessel injury when cutting in the blind spot of the bronchus. During robotic surgery, the robotic arm holds the tissue under constant tension; therefore, even if the pulmonary artery is left for final transection, it is not injured by unexpected tension. In this study, we examined the usefulness of final transection of the proximal pulmonary artery in robotic left upper lobectomy.

This retrospective single-institution study evaluated patients who had undergone robotic lung resection. Of the 453 robotic lung resections performed at our institution between 2017 and 2022, 49 patients who had undergone left upper lobectomy were evaluated. Patients who had undergone bronchial transection followed by pulmonary artery transection were assigned to the group, bronchus prior transection (BT group, n = 38), and those who had undergone pulmonary artery transection followed by bronchial transection were assigned to the group, pulmonary artery prior transection (AT group, n = 11). Patient characteristics and perioperative outcomes were compared between the groups.

The groups did not differ significantly in age, sex, smoking history, tumour size, complication rates or 30-day mortality. The BT group inclined to shorter operative times and lesser blood loss. No active intraoperative bleeding occurred in the BT group. However, the AT group had 2 cases of intraoperative pulmonary artery bleeding, one of which required urgent conversion to thoracotomy.

Final transection of the proximal pulmonary artery is a novel and effective surgical technique for robotic left upper lobectomy.