Objective To compare the short-term and long-term clinical effects of robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy and video-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy, including surgical efficacy, incidence of postoperative complications, postoperative short-term and long-term pain and long-term survival, to further determine the clinical value of robot-assisted radical resection of esophageal cancer.

Methods A total of 27 patients with esophageal cancer admitted and received robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, General Hospital of Southern Theater Command, PLA from June 2022 to June 2023 were collected and set as the observation group. The results were compared with 39 patients who received video-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy in the same period (control group). The perioperative data, postoperative complications (pulmonary infection, anastomotic fistula, hoarseness, chylothorax), short-term and long-term postoperative pain and long-term survival (recurrence or metastasis, death) were compared between the two groups.

Results Compared with the control group, the number of lymph node dissection, the amount of intraoperative blood loss and the rate of hoarseness decreased significantly in the observation group (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the observation group had a higher R0 resection rate, lower incidence of anastomotic leakage and chylothorax, higher short-term postoperative pain and long-term pain improvement, but there was no significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in survival between the two groups one year after surgery (P < 0.05).

Conclusion Robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy is effective, the incidence of postoperative complications is lower, and has no effect on the long-term quality of life and long-term survival of patients, which is worthy of clinical promotion.