Day surgery unit robotics thoracic surgery: feasibility and management

BACKGROUND: Day surgery has been widely carried out in medical developed countries such as Europe and the United States with high efficiency, safety and economy. The development of thoracic day surgery started late, and currently only a few top three hospitals carry thoracic day surgery. In recent years, with the continuous in-depth application of the concept of accelerated rehabilitation surgery (ERAS) in the field of surgery, thoracic surgery ERAS has also entered clinical practice with remarkable results. At present, the application of day surgery in the field of thoracic surgery is still in its infancy, and the application of robot-assisted thoracic surgery in thoracic surgery has brought new opportunities for the popularization of day surgery in thoracic surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 86 patients underwent thoracic day surgery under the application of robot-assisted surgery system and through systematic randomization method choose 86 patients underwent conventional thoracic surgery under the application of robot-assisted surgery system at our Institute between 2020 and 2022. We analyzed the clinical and pathological features between the two groups. RESULTS: The clinical feature of location of the nodules, the size of nodules, pN, histology and postoperative complications were homogenous between the two groups. The average age was significantly higher in the conventional mode group, the ratio of male patients and the patients with history of smoking were significantly lower in day-surgery mode group. The major surgical method in conventional mode group was lobectomy resection (48.8%). While the segmental resection was the major surgical in day surgery mode group. The hospital stay and the time of drain was significant longer in conventional mode group. And the total medical cost in conventional was more than day-surgery mode group. While the histology and postoperative complications were homogenous between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Before this, day surgery and robotics assistant surgery in thoracic surgery had been proved feasibility and safety. However, there was no report of day surgery unit robotics assistant thoracic surgery. Our clinical practice demonstrated that the method of day surgery unit robotics thoracic surgery is feasibility and safety enough.