Objective The goal of this report was to evaluate the applicability of the da Vinci S surgical system in thoracic surgery.Methods The da Vinci S surgical system consists of a console, a patient cart, and a vision system.The patient cart loading with 3 robot arms and 1 central endoscope arm connects the console which commands the movements of the arm tips.The robot arm tips are introduced via small chest wall ports and attached to the arms of the robot.The surgeon, sitting at the console, manipulates highly sensitive sensors that transfer the surgeon's movements to the arm tips.The so called EndoWrist'technology offers up , down, left, right, and twist, seven degrees of movements, thus exceeding the capacity of a surgeon's hand in open surgery.17 intrathoracic lesion cases, including 12 Myasthenia Gravis, 1 diaphragm hernia, 2 esophageal cancer, 1 pulmonary cancer , 1 pneumothorax, were evaluated for clinical application of the da Vinci S surgical system.Results Out of 17 surgical procedures, 14 procedures were done using the robot from beginning to the end, including 12 thymectomies, 1 diaphragm hernia repair, 1 pulmonary bleb dissection.Only gastric mobilizations, the abdominal part procedures were done using the da Vinci S system, and the thoracic part procedures were done through small incision thoracotomy in 2 cases with esophageal cancer.One resection of left upper lobectomy had to be converted due to surgical problem.The postoperative courses were uneventful.Conclusion The da Vinci operating robot can do nearly all kinds of thoracic operations.Advanced general thoracic procedures can be performed safely and effectively with the da Vinci S robot allowing precise dissection.This benefit becomes evident most elegantly in thymectomies.The robot operation procedures can be done by the doctors with open and assisted thoracopic surgery experiences and other personnels getting trained in a short period of time, but case selection and preparing emergency thoracotomy at any time is needed to ensure the patient safety.

BACKGROUNDTo observe the CT appearance and pathological changes of VX2 tumor in rabbit lung after radio-frequency ablation.

METHODSAfter VX2 tumor tissue suspension was injected into the lungs, the transplanted lung cancer models were established in 36 New Zealand white rabbits. Twenty-eight rabbits were treated with radio-frequency ablation, and another 8 rabbits without any treatment as control. The CT appearances and pathological changes were observed in different time intervals after the treatment in 14 rabbits out of experimental group. The survival periods of the rabbits were recorded in the rest 14 rabbits of experimental group and the control group respectively.

RESULTSCoagulative necrosis and cell apoptosis appeared in the tumor tissues after the ablation, and inflammatory cells were found in the lung tissues around the areas of ablation. Wadding shadows appeared in CT images after the treatment and disappeared with the inflammation vanished, but the tumor shadows ceased to increase. In the experimental group, tumor tissues were almost necrosed in the target areas of 21 rabbits, however, peripheral residual nests of histologically viable tumor were found in the target areas of the other 7 rabbits. The survival periods of rabbits in the experimental group and the control group were 38 days±3.4 days days and 26 days±2.8 days respectively (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSRadio-frequency ablation may be an effective method in the treatment of lung cancer.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a kind of cardiovascular diseases originated from atherosclerosis (AS), and chronic inflammation is one of the pathological characteristics. The peripheral blood leukocytes, especially mononuclear cells, play an important role in the AS processes. Recently, in a series of Epigenome-Wide Association Studies (EWAS), multiple DNA differential methylation sites in peripheral blood cells were found to be statistically associated with CHD, which suggested that these DNA differential methylation sites might serve as new risk factors for CHD. The recognition of the variant of DNA methylation as a common epigenetic nucleic acid modification in the occurrence and development of CHD, is ongoing. DNA methylation has the potential to become warning biomarkers, which might provide new ideas and evidences for mechanistic studies of CHD.