Robotic thymectomy

Abstract

Thymectomy is the most frequent surgical operation involving the mediastinum, both for the treatment of thymic tumors and for the multidisciplinary management of myasthenia gravis (MG). Different surgical approaches have been described, either traditional open approaches or minimally invasive ones. Robotic thymectomy represents a further step in the evolution of minimally invasive surgery. Available data show that robotic thymectomy may be considered a safe and feasible operation, with encouraging long-term results in myasthenic patients and promising results in patients with early stage thymoma, both in terms of surgical and oncological outcomes. We present the surgical technique of robotic thymectomy that we apply for patients affected by myasthenia gravis and early stage thymoma.