AB017. Oncological outcomes of robotic extended thymectomy for early stage thymoma compared to sternotomy: a retrospective single centre institution analysis
Abstract

AB017. Oncological outcomes of robotic extended thymectomy for early stage thymoma compared to sternotomy: a retrospective single centre institution analysis

Filippo Tommaso Gallina1, Enrico Melis1, Daniele Forcella1, Gabriele Alessandrini1, Virna Cerasoli1, Felicita Corzani1, Mirella Marino2, Francesco Facciolo1

1Thoracic Surgery Unit, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy; 2Department of Pathology, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy

Correspondence to: Filippo Tommaso Gallina. Thoracic Surgery Unit, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Via Elio Chianesi, Rome, Italy. Email: filippo.gallina@ifo.gov.it.

Background: Thymoma is the most common primary tumor of the mediastinum. Up until two decades ago, the only surgical technique for treating early stage thymoma was median sternotomy but in the last few years minimally invasive techniques, including robotic surgery, have significantly improved. In this single centre retrospective study, we analysed the oncological outcomes of the patients underwent robotic radical thymectomy for early stage thymoma compared to patients underwent sternotomy.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the patients who underwent radical thymectomy for thymoma between 2013 and 2018 at our institution. After the propensity match score analysis we selected two groups (robotic vs. sternotomy) of 30 patients that were homogeneous for sex, age, Masaoka stage, histology and tumor size. We evaluated the surgical and the oncological outcomes of the two groups. The overall survival was evaluated with the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results: Results are summarized in Table 1. There were 37 males and 23 females. Ten patients presented myasthenia gravis at the diagnosis. Median age was 57.4±17.1. Average diameter of the tumor was 3.1±2.1 cm. The sternotomy group presented a significantly greater postoperative major morbidity (P=0.02) and hospital stay (P=0.001). Five patients received adjuvant radiotherapy, only one of the robotic groups. After a mean follow up of 37.7±22.2 months five patients died but only one of the sternotomy groups for a thymoma relapse. Analysis of survival showed that the two groups did not presented difference in terms of overall survival.

Conclusions: In the present study we showed that the robotic surgery could be a valid alternative to standard median sternotomy for the treatment of the early stage thymoma. Despite a longer follow-up is needed, robotic surgery group reported a less postoperative complications rate and less hospital stay with comparable oncological outcomes.

Keywords: Robotic surgery; thymoma; sternotomy

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/med.2021.ab017
Cite this abstract as: Gallina FT, Melis E, Forcella D, Alessandrini G, Cerasoli V, Corzani F, Marino M, Facciolo F. AB017. Oncological outcomes of robotic extended thymectomy for early stage thymoma compared to sternotomy: a retrospective single centre institution analysis. Mediastinum 2021;5:AB017.

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