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Review
. 2021 Oct;13(10):6123-6128.
doi: 10.21037/jtd-19-3271.

Global status of the robotic thoracic surgery

Ricardo Mingarini Terra  1 , Pedro Henrique Cunha Leite  1 , Alberto Jorge Monteiro Dela Vega  1
Affiliations
Review

Global status of the robotic thoracic surgery

Ricardo Mingarini Terra et al. J Thorac Dis. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Robotics has taken its place in thoracic surgery since the end of the 20th century. Since then, it has been developed worldwide with many different applications, such as the treatment of mediastinal tumors and lung cancer. Although, the contradictory results comparing this new technology to other minimally invasive techniques may raise some skepticism, the high quality of the instrument and images provided by the robot brings a whole new perspective for the thoracic surgeon, since the robotic platform can ally the ease of movement obtained with open technique with the advantages of the minimally invasive surgery. When it comes to the implementation of a robotic program the costs of RATS are an important issue. However, it is necessary to take into account not only the cost of the robotic platform itself but also the maintenance expenses, disposable tools, and training programs. Nevertheless, the cost of the robotic surgery is expected to decrease in the coming years and like the instrumentation, virtual reality will see improvements. Many different countries around the world have contributed with original articles for the development of the robotic thoracic surgery and in this paper, we aim at describing the global status of the robotic thoracic surgery.

Keywords: Robotic surgical procedures; minimally invasive surgical procedures; thoracic surgery; video-assisted.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/jtd-19-3271). The series “Robotic Thoracic Surgery” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

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