Robotic pulmonary resections in children: series report and introduction of a new robotic instrument.

Thermal sealing devices, such as the LigaSure (ValleyLab-Tyco Healthcare; Boulder, CO) or Gyrus PK (Gyrus ACMI, Maple Grove, MN) are minimally invasive instruments that can be used to seal the pulmonary parenchyma in pediatric lung resections. But these devices were only available in laparoscopic form, and no robotically similar instruments were manufactured. This handicaps the surgeon at the console, because these nonrobotic instruments must be manipulated and used by the bedside assistant instead of the console surgeon. In July 2006, the robotic Gyrus PK was introduced for the da Vinci Surgical Robot (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA). In this paper, we present our initial experience in performing robotic pulmonary resections in infants and children, including all cases before and after the robotic Gyrus PK was introduced.