Robotic transthoracic esophagectomy in the prone position: experience with 32 patients with esophageal cancer.

摘要

The first case description of thoracoscopic esophagec-tomy aided by the da Vinci robotic system (Intuitive Surgical, Inc, Sunnyvale, Calif) was published in 2004 by Kernstine and colleagues.1 We report here our single-institution experience of 32 robot-assisted esophagectomies with the da Vinci robot in which mobilization of the esophagus was done with the patient in the prone position.