[Robotic Assisted Repair of a Tracheobronchial Injury During Oesophagectomy]

This case report shows a robotic assisted resection and repair of the pars mebranacea of the trachea with a bovine patch plastic.

During a robotic assisted McKeown oesophagectomy of a 36-year-old patient with a squamous cell carcinoma after neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy the resection of the pars membranacea was necessary to achieve a R0 resection margin.

The preparation, the resection and the repair were conducted completely with robotic assistance.

Because of the close relation between oesophagus and trachea, in large T4-carcinomas partial resection of the trachea is not uncommon. Also, tracheobronchial injuries are a rare but dreaded complication during an oesophagectomy with potentially lethal consequences. Even though numbers of thoracoscopic and robotic assisted oesophagectomies are rising, the repair of a tracheobronchial injury usually makes a conversion to open thoracotomy necessary. This case report shows that a completely robotic assisted resection and reconstruction of the pars membranacea is safe and feasible.