Abstract: Objective  To evaluate the efficacy of Da Vinci robotassisted thoracic surgery (RATS) and videoassisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in the treatment of pulmonary diseases.Methods  The clinical data of 218 patients with pulmonary diseases and treated with Da Vinci RATS and and traditional VATS were retrospectively analyzed. Patients chose the surgical method on their own, including 98 cases in RATS group and 120 cases in VATS group.Results  The operation time of RATS group was longer than that of VATS group (P<0.01), and the surgical cost  (P<0.05) and total hospitalization costs (P<0.01)   of RATS were also higher than those of VATS group.  However  RATS group had less intraoperative blood loss (P<0.01)  and shorter postoperative hospital stay (P<0.05).There were no statistically significant differences between two groups in the conversion to thoracotomy, total drainage volume and  postoperative drainage time (P>0.05). Patients with lung cancer in RATS group had shorter postoperative hospital stay (P<0.01) and higher total hospital costs(P<0.01). Nonlung cancer patients in  RATS group had longer surgery time (P<0.01) and higher overall hospital costs (P<0.01). Patients in RATS group had less intraoperative blood loss(P<0.05)  and shorter postoperative hospital stay (P<0.05).Conclusion  Da  Vinci RATS  is safe and effective,and it has obvious advantages in intraoperative blood loss and postoperative hospital stay, while other indicators have no obvious advantages in   robot assisted surgery.

Key words: robotics;pulmonary , surgical , procedures, thoracoscopes, lung diseases