A comparative study of robotic surgery and thoracoscopic surgery for mediastinal cysts

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and safety of robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in the treatment of mediastinal cysts. METHODS: Retrospective analysis on clinical data of 70 cases of minimally invasive surgery for mediastinal cysts completed in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gansu Provincial People’s Hospital from April 2014 to December 2022. There were 34 cases in the RATS group with a cyst diameter of (3.70 ± 1.16) cm and 36 cases in the VATS group with a cyst diameter of (4.07 ± 1.20) cm. All cysts were evaluated preoperatively using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or chest computed tomography (CT) localization. Surgery-related indices were compared among the two groups. RESULTS: All patients in two groups successfully completed resection of mediastinal cysts without perioperative deaths. Compared with the VATS group, the RATS group possessed shorter operative time [(75.32 ± 17.80) min vs. (102.22 ± 19.80) min, P < 0.001], lesser intraoperative bleeding [10 (5.00, 26.00) ml vs. 17.50 (5.00, 50.50) ml, P = 0.009], shorter postoperative chest drainage time [2 (1.00, 6.00) ml vs. 3 (2.00, 6.50) ml, P = 0.006] and shorter postoperative hospital stay [3 (2.00, 6.50) d vs. 4 (3.00, 7.50) d, P = 0.001]. There was no statistically significant discrepancy in intermediate openings and complications in both groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with VATS, RATS is safety and effectivity in the treatment of mediastinal cysts and thus has advantages in operative time, intraoperative bleeding, postoperative chest drainage time and postoperative hospital stay.