Background: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of single incision plus one (SI+1) port three-dimensional (3D) laparoscopic minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE). Methods: Clinical data of patients who underwent 3D thoracic laparoscopic MIE in our department from September 2020 to March 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. According to the different methods of laparoscopic surgery, the patients were divided into 2 groups: SI+1 port 3D laparoscopy group and multiportal 3D laparoscopy group. The operation time of the 3D laparoscopy component, amount of intraoperative blood loss, number of celiac lymph node dissections, postoperative abdominal drainage days, postoperative total abdominal drainage, postoperative complications, and length of hospital stay were analyzed. Results: There was no significant difference between the 2 methods in laparoscopic operation time (30.11±5.86 vs. 28.45±4.72 min, P=0.49), intraoperative blood loss (34.44±9.82 vs. 35.91±6.25 mL, P=0.69), number of celiac lymph node dissections (8.44±3.13 vs. 7.09±2.12, P=0.27), postoperative abdominal drainage days (3.11±0.33 vs. 3.00±0.00 days, P=0.28), postoperative total abdominal drainage (95.00±23.33 vs. 92.27±11.26 mL, P=0.74), postoperative complications (22.2% vs. 27.3%, P=0.33), and hospital stay (9.67±0.71 vs. 10.18±0.87 days, P=0.17). None of the patients enrolled in the study had recurrence or death to date. Conclusions:The application of SI+1 port 3D laparoscopy in minimally invasive resection of esophageal carcinoma is safe and feasible.

Background: It still remains unclear whether three-dimension (3D) video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for esophageal cancer is safe and reasonable. This meta-analysis aims at assessing the effectiveness and safety of 3D VATS for esophageal cancer in comparison with that of two-dimension (2D) VATS.Methods: All the relevant data systematically analyzed in this thesis is from PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science and clinicaltrials.gov, and the time span for retrieval is from the date of the database establishment to February 2021. The research on the efficacy and safety of 3D VATS for esophageal cancer and 2D VATS is consistent with our meta-analysis. Continuous variables and dichotomy variables are compared using odds ratio, average or standard average differences with 95% confidence interval (95% CI), and P values, respectively. Results: In five studies of this paper, there were 553 patients in total (3D VATS group, n=266 and 2D VATS group, n=287). Patients in the 3D group had shorter operation time [standardized mean difference (SMD) =−0.99, 95% CI: −1.66 to −0.32; P=0.004], and less bleeding (SMD =−0.88, 95% CI: −1.66 to −0.10; P=0.03) than those in the 2D group. The total amount of dissected lymph node and post-operative complications in the 2D group and the 3D group were nearly the same, showing no significant difference.Discussion: The results of this meta-analysis showed that 3D VATS for esophageal cancer will be more applied and developed in the future.

ObjectiveTo investigate the safety and efficacy of glasses-free three-dimensional (3D) thoracoscopic surgery in minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE).MethodsThe clinical data of 98 patients, including 81 men and 17 women aged 45–77 years, with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent minimally invasive thoracoscopic esophagectomy from January 2017 to December 2019 [3 years, with clinical follow-up time: 1 year~4 years (2017.01–2020.12)] were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups according to different surgical methods including a glasses-free 3D thoracoscopic group (G-3D group: 38 patients) and a two-dimesional (2D) thoracoscopic group (2D group: 60 patients). The clinical outcome of the two groups were compared.ResultsThe operation time of the thoracoscopic part in the G-3D group was significantly shorter than that in the 2D group (P<0.05). The total number of lymph node dissection in the G-3D group was more than that in the 2D group (P<0.05). The thoracic indwelling time, postoperative hospital stay, severe pulmonary infection, arrhythmia, anastomotic leakage, chylothorax, and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury were not significantly different between the two groups (P>0.05). There was also no significant difference between the two groups on the progression-free survival (P>0.05).ConclusionGlasses-free 3D thoracoscopic surgery for esophageal cancer is a safe and effective surgical procedure. Compared with 2D thoracoscopic MIE, glasses-free 3D thoracoscopic MIE for esophageal cancer has higher safety, more lymph node dissection, and higher operation efficiency through the optimized surgical operations. We believe that glasses-free 3D thoracoscopy for MIE is worthy of clinical promotion.