For patients getting anti-reflux surgery, researchers compared the robotic approach to standard keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery across several hospitals. Both worked equally well at controlling symptoms after 2 years, but the robotic approach had fewer complications during surgery and needed to switch to open surgery less often — especially in more complicated, repeat operations.
A prospective multicentre analysis comparing robotic and laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication found equivalent symptom control and wrap durability at 2 years, with robotic surgery associated with lower intraoperative complication rates and reduced conversion to open surgery in revisional cases.
Surgeons tracked over 300 patients for 10 years after keyhole repair of large hiatal hernias, where a large portion of the stomach had moved into the chest. The hernia returned in about 8% of patients over that decade, and more than 90% had lasting relief of their symptoms. Emergencies and the need to convert to open surgery were both rare when performed by an experienced team.
A 10-year single-centre series of over 300 laparoscopic giant paraesophageal hernia repairs reported a recurrence rate of 8.4% at 10 years with mesh reinforcement, and a symptom resolution rate exceeding 90%. Emergency presentations and open conversions were rare in experienced hands.
For patients whose esophageal cancer wasn’t completely gone after chemotherapy/radiation and surgery, adding an immunotherapy drug (nivolumab) afterward nearly doubled the time before the cancer returned, compared to no additional treatment — about 22 months versus 11 months.
Extended follow-up from the CheckMate 577 trial confirmed sustained disease-free survival benefit of adjuvant nivolumab in patients with resected esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer who did not achieve pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiation (median DFS 22.4 vs. 11.0 months, HR 0.67).
Combining results from 18 studies, researchers confirmed that minimally invasive (keyhole) removal of the esophagus leads to about half the rate of lung complications, a shorter hospital stay, and the same long-term survival as traditional open surgery — confirming keyhole surgery as the preferred approach at experienced centres.
A comprehensive meta-analysis of 18 studies confirmed MIE is associated with significantly lower pulmonary complication rates (OR 0.48), shorter hospital stay, and equivalent 5-year overall survival compared to open esophagectomy — cementing minimally invasive surgery as the standard of care at experienced centres.
For patients whose lung cancer has a specific genetic mutation (called EGFR), taking a targeted daily pill (osimertinib) after surgery improved 5-year survival from 78% to 88%. This is why genetic testing of the tumour after surgery matters — it can open the door to treatment that meaningfully improves the odds.
Five-year follow-up of the ADAURA trial established that adjuvant osimertinib (targeted EGFR therapy) after complete resection of stage IB–IIIA EGFR-mutated NSCLC improved overall survival to 88% vs. 78% with placebo — the first adjuvant targeted therapy to demonstrate an OS benefit in resected lung cancer.
This large randomized trial confirmed that for early-stage lung cancers 2 cm or smaller, removing just the affected segment of lung gives the same survival as removing the entire lobe. Combined with an earlier similar trial, this has changed the standard approach toward preserving more healthy lung whenever it’s appropriate.
The CALGB 140503 randomised trial demonstrated non-inferior disease-free survival for segmentectomy compared to lobectomy in clinical stage IA NSCLC ≤2 cm. Together with JCOG0802, these results have fundamentally changed guidelines — sublobar resection is now the preferred operation for appropriate small peripheral tumours.