Robot‐assisted thoracic surgery versus video‐assisted thoracic surgery for treatment of patients with thymoma: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background: Surgical resection of the thymus is indicated in the presence of primary thymic diseases such as thymoma. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) offer a minimally invasive approach to thymectomy. However, there is no clear conclusion whether RATS can achieve an equal or even better surgical effect when compared with VATS in treatment of thymoma. We performed this meta-analysis to explore and compare the outcomes of RATS versus VATS for thymectomy in patients with thymoma. Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Medline, and Web of Science databases were searched for full-text literature citations. The quality of the articles was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the data analyzed using Review Manager 5.3 software. Fixed or random effect models were applied according to heterogeneity. Subgroup analysis was conducted.Results: A total of 11 studies with 1418 patients, of whom 688 patients were in the RATS group and 730 in the VATS group, were involved in the analysis. Compared with VATS, RATS was associated with less blood loss in operation, lower volume of drainage, fewer postoperative pleural drainage days, shorter postoperative hospital stay, and fewer postoperative complications. There was no significant difference in operative time and patients with or without myasthenia gravis between the two groups.Conclusions: RATS has more advantages over VATS, indicating that RATS is better than VATS in terms of postoperative recovery. We look forward to more large-sample, high-quality randomized controlled studies published in the future.

Robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery vs. sternotomy for thymectomy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Shen et al (26) and Wu et al ( 27) compared the effects of RATS and VATS thymectomy by meta-analysis. They all came to a similar conclusion: RATS has more advantages over VATS, including reducing operation blood loss, postoperative drainage time, postoperative drainage volume, hospitalization time, and postoperative complications.…”

Robot‐assisted thymectomy in large anterior mediastinal tumors: A comparative study with video‐assisted thymectomy and open surgery

“… 4 Robot‐assisted thymectomy (RAT) has also been an alternative approach for AMT because of the advantages of 3D‐magnified visualization and highly stable and mobile operating arms, which provide comparable surgical outcomes. 5 …”

Continuing challenges of primary neuroendocrine tumours of the thymus: A concise review

“…The most recent meta-analysis, published in 2022, compared 688 RATS procedures with 730 VATS procedures. All included studies were retrospective, raising the possibility of selection bias, however the paper reported lower blood loss, lower drainage volume, shorter postoperative stay and fewer post-operative complications in patients undergoing RATS, with no difference in operating time [103]. Again we emphasise that although these newer techniques show definite promise, achieving a clear resection while minimising morbidity remains the over-riding principle, irrespective of the method of approach.…”