Does robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy really have the advantage of lymphadenectomy over video-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy in treating esophageal squamous cell carcinoma? A propensity score-matched analysis based on short-term outcomes.

This study aims to investigate advantages of robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE) over video-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (VAMIE) in treating esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by applying propensity score-matched analysis. From April 2016 to January 2018, consecutive patients undergoing a McKeown RAMIE or VAMIE for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were prospectively included for analysis. Baseline data, pathological findings, and short-term outcomes of the two groups (RAMIE group and VAMIE group) were collected and compared. Propensity score-matched analysis was applied to generate matched pairs for further comparison. Finally, we included a total of 151 patients (RAMIE group: 79 patients, VAMIE group: 72 patients) for analysis. In the analysis of unmatched cohort, RAMIE yielded a significantly larger number of total dissected lymph nodes (mean: 20.6 ± 8.8 vs. 17.9 ± 7.7; P = 0.048) and abdominal lymph nodes (mean: 9.5 ± 6.8 vs. 7.4 ± 5.1; P = 0.039) than VAMIE. However, there was no significantly different risk of major complications between the two groups. In the analysis of matched cohort, RAMIE still yielded a significantly larger number of total dissected lymph nodes (P = 0.006) and abdominal lymph nodes (P = 0.042) than VAMIE. There was still no increased risk of postoperative major complications in the RAMIE group compared to the VAMIE group. Moreover, RAMIE was found to yield significantly more left recurrent laryngeal nerve lymph nodes (mean: 1.0 ± 1.8 vs. 0.4 ± 0.8; P = 0.033) than VAMIE without increasing the risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis. Therefore, RAMIE may have the advantage of lymphadenectomy over VAMIE without increasing any risk of postoperative major complications. Further well-conducted studies, however, are needed to confirm our conclusions.