Robotic Left Upper Lobe Sleeve Lobectomy

We present the case of a 20-year-old man with a previous medical history of toxic megacolon and a viral pericarditis, which after 3 days of fever and headache, as well as a dry cough and dysgeusia, a chest CT scan was performed and a lesion in the left upper lobe was observed.

The PET scan showed hypermetabolic endobronchial lesion in the left upper lobe bronchus, resulting in atelectasis of the entire lobe.

A bronchoscopy was performed and a rounded lesion was observed, that occupies the entire LUL bronchus. A biopsy of this lesion was performed and the result was a typical carcinoid tumor.

The case was presented at the tumor board, and it was decided to perform a RATS left upper lobe sleeve lobectomy.

Surgical technique:

After port placement, we started the division of the inferior pulmonary ligament and the harvest of the lymph node station 9. After anterior retraction of the lung, we dissected the posterior mediastinal pleura and the pulmonary hilum posteriorly and harvested stations 7. Then we dissect the anterior hilum and the left superior pulmonary vein. After that, we reach the artery by the fissure, using a combination of monopolar and bipolar energy. We completed the anterior and posterior fissure using robotic staplers and then we sectioned the arterial branches of the left upper lobe and the left upper pulmonary vein with robotic staplers.

We harvest station 11 and retracts the pulmonary artery posteriorly using a Penrose drain, to improve the exposure of the bronchus, then the bronchus was cut using monopolar robotic scissors. A frozen section of the bronchial margin was performed and it was negative for malignancy.

Once the main bronchus and the lower left lobe bronchus had been sectioned and dissected, we performed a bronchial anastomosis using a running suture with V-Loc 4/0.

The patient was extubated in the immediate postoperative period and the chest tube was removed and the RX showed a fully expanded. The patient was discharged uneventfully on postoperative day nine. The pathological examination showed a typical carcinoid tumor, and the final staging was pT1bN0.