Robotic Versus Thoracolaparoscopic Esophagectomy for Esophageal Cancer

Robotic Versus Thoracolaparoscopic Esophagectomy for Carcinoma Esophagus: a Prospective Comparative Study

Esophageal cancer is a debilitating condition. The treatment involved is complex requiring a combination of chemotherapy and surgery in most cases. Complete removal of the tumor and the adjacent lymph nodes is of utmost importance in improving the survival. Lymph node yield following surgery helps in proper staging of the disease and is an important prognosticating variable. It is hypothesized that the lymph node yield following robotic esophagectomy is higher than that following thoracolaparoscopic esophagectomy. The study aims to compare the short term oncological outcomes following robotic esophagectomy and thoracolaparoscopic esophagectomy for carcinoma esophagus.

Esophagectomy, Robotic esophagectomy, Laparoscopic esophagectomy, Minimally invasive esophagectomy, Ivor Lewis esophagectomy, McKeown's esophagectomy

Esophagectomy performed for esophageal cancer using conventional thoracoscopic and laparoscopic techniques

Removal of the esophagus and its draining lymph nodes using conventional thoracoscopic and laparoscopic techniques

The proximal, distal and circumferential surgical margins will be assessed by pathological evaluation for the presence of tumor and will be assigned an "R" category as defined by the College of American Pathologists. R0 would indicate no evidence of residual tumor. Presence of microscopic tumor at margins would be designated as R1 whereas the presence of macroscopically visible tumor at margins would be designated as R2.

Inclusion Criteria: Resectable esophageal carcinoma, either squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma in the middle or lower part the esophagus Exclusion Criteria: American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class 4 and above Esophagectomy for other non-malignant conditions