Objective

Minimally invasive thoracic surgical procedures, have gained popularity over the last decade. They have increasingly become the choice of intervention for a number of thoracic surgical operations. Minimally invasive surgery decreases post-operative pain, hospital stay and leads to a faster recovery in comparison to conventional open methods. Minimally invasive techniques to perform a thymectomy include video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) or robotic assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS).

Methods

An extensive electronic health database search was performed on all articles published from inception to May 2015 for studies describing outcomes in VATS and RATS thymectomy.

Results

A total of 350 patients were included in this study, for which 182 and 168 patients underwent RATS and VATS thymectomy respectively. There were no recorded in-hospital death for either procedure. There were no statistical difference in conversion to open, length of hospital stay or post-operative pneumonia. Operational times for RATS thymectomy were longer.

Conclusion

VATS and RATS thymectomy offer good and safe operative and perioperative outcomes. There is little difference between the two groups. However, there is poor evidence basis for the long term outcomes in minimally invasive procedures for thymectomy. It is imperative that future studies evaluate oncological outcomes both short and long term as well as those related to safety.