Uniquely modified robotic-assisted thoracic surgery with good intrathoracic visual field.

Although the use of robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) is increasing rapidly, it allows only a limited visual field on the head side because the RATS camera port is usually placed in the eighth or ninth intercostal space. Because the visual field on the intrathoracic head side is critical during lung cancer surgery, such as when peeling off the first branches of the pulmonary artery (right truncus superior artery or left upper ventral lobe branch), a poor visual field could be fatal. We therefore devised a new port arrangement, the "Hamamatsu method," which ensures a good visual field.