From Milan: Robotic minimally-invasive pneumonectomy for lung cancer

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21352971

Ann Thorac Surg. 2011 Mar;91(3):e45-7.
Pneumonectomy for lung cancer: a further step in minimally invasive surgery.
Spaggiari L, Galetta D.

Division of Thoracic Surgery, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; University of Milan School of Medicine, Milan, Italy.
Abstract
Robotic lobectomies have been proven to be technically and oncologically feasible. To date, however, pneumonectomy is still considered as a too extensive resection to be performed by the da Vinci robotic system (Intuitive Surgical, Mountain View, CA). We describe 2 patients with centrally located non-small cell lung cancer requiring pneumonectomy and radical lymph node dissection. The operations, consisting of a left and a right pneumonectomy, were successfully performed by a totally video-assisted robotic approach. Tips and pitfalls in this latest innovation in the minimally invasive surgery for lung cancer are discussed.