Early experience with robot-assisted surgery for mediastinal masses

BackgroundWe report the experience of a single institution with the minimally invasive resection of mediastinal masses using the da Vinci robotic surgical system.MethodsFrom August 2001 to June 2003, 14 patients (5 men and 9 women aged from 21 to 77 years) with mediastinal masses were operated on minimally invasively with the da Vinci robotic system. This consisted of 9 thymectomies (6 thymomas, 2 nonatrophic thymic glands, 1 thymic cyst), 3...