Table 4.
Surgery-Related and Postoperative Outcomes of the Propensity Score Matched Groups (n=470)
| Characteristic | Approach
|
P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robotic (n=172) |
VATS (n=141) |
Open (n=157) |
||
| Mortality | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0.30 |
| LOS, days, median (range) | 4 (1–32) | 4 (2–50) | 5 (2–29) | <0.001 |
| Conversion to open | 16 (9) | 8 (6) | — | 0.32 |
| Conversion for bleeding | 3 | 0 | — | |
| Conversion for other reasons | 13a | 8b | — | |
| Sampled LN stations, median (range) | 5 (0–8) | 3 (0–7) | 4 (1–8) | <0.001 |
| Cases with complications | 51 (29.7) | 35 (24.8) | 47 (29.9) | 0.55 |
| Resection completeness | 0.99 | |||
| R0 | 170 (99) | 141 (100) | 157 (100) | |
| R1 | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 | |
| Pathologic type | 0.82 | |||
| Adenocarcinoma | 19 (11) | 23 (16) | 22 (14) | |
| Squamous cell carcinoma | 91 (53) | 69 (49) | 73 (46) | |
| Carcinoid | 39 (23) | 30 (21) | 40 (25) | |
| Other | 23 (13) | 19 (13) | 22 (14) | |
| Pathologic N category | 0.64 | |||
| N0 | 145 (84) | 121 (86) | 137 (87) | |
| N1 | 20 (12) | 14 (10) | 11 (7) | |
| N2 | 7 (4) | 6 (4) | 9 (6) | |
| Pathologic stage | 0.13 | |||
| 0-Ic | 133 (77) | 114 (81) | 135 (86) | |
| II | 29 (17) | 21 (15) | 12 (8) | |
| III/IVd | 10 (6) | 6 (4) | 10 (6) | |
Data are no. (%) of patients, unless otherwise noted. LN, lymph node; LOS, length of stay in hospital; VATS, video-assisted thoracic surgery.
Due to extensive adhesion (5 cases), inadequate single lung ventilation (3 cases), technique inability to advance instrument through assistant ports (2 cases), poor visualization for delayed atelectasis and body habitus (1 case), technical problems with anesthesia machine (1 case), and enlarged but benign appearing hilar lymph nodes (1 case).
Due to extensive adhesion (1 case), inadequate single lung ventilation (2 cases), enlarged but benign appearing hilar lymph nodes (2 cases), unable to palpate lesions (2 cases), multiple lesions (1 case).
Two patients had stage 0 disease, both in the thoracotomy group.
One patient had stage IV disease (multiple pleural metastases) in the robotic group.