Page 2 - Read Online

Topic: Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive

Esophagectomy (RAMIE): A New Treatment Paradigm

for the Esophageal Cancer

Guest Editor

Prof. Itasu Ninomiya

Prof. Itasu Ninomiya graduated from Kanazawa
University, School of Medicine in 1988. He was
awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1994. He

completed a residency in gastroenterological surgery at
Kanazawa University Hospital. He is an active member
in International Society of Surgery (ISS/SIC), Japan
Surgical Society (JSS), Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery (JSGS),
Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery (JSES), Japan Surgical Association (JSA),

Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery (JATS), Japan Esophageal Society (JES),
Japanese Gastric Cancer Association (JGCA), Japanese Society of Gastroenterology
(JSG), Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society (JGES), and Japanese Society for

Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (JSCNM). He is a councilor of JSGS, JSES, JSA,
JATS and JES. He engages in the approvement of specialist in esophageal surgery by
JES and specialists in endoscopic surgery by JSES. He has authored over 200 peer-
reviewed publications.

Special Issue introduction:

Esophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide, with
an estimated 400,000 new cases annually. Neoadjuvant treatment followed by

radical esophagectomy with lymph node resection is the standard treatment strategy
for resectable esophageal cancer. Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) using
thoracoscopy and laparoscopy has taken the place of open esophagectomy for its less

invasiveness and feasible oncological curability. Recently, robot-assisted minimally
invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE) has become an alternative option to MIE that
provides magnified three-dimensional imaging of superior quality, tremor filtering,
and articulation of instruments with seven degrees of freedom, which facilitate a
precise lymph node dissection in the narrow mediastinum.

This Special Issue will cover many of the current important topics related to RAMIE,
including education, comparisons with open surgery or MIE, and novel techniques

using robotic platforms.