Robot Assisted Esophageal Leiomyoma Removal

This video demonstrates an example of a transabdominal approach for removing a large esophageal leiomyoma with the da Vinci robot system.The leiomyoma was associated with dysphagia, and was located in the lower third of the esophagus, extending into the proximal cardia of the stomach. An endoscopic, transesophageal biopsy was obtained prior to the referral for surgery, and showed the leiomyoma to be benign. In this case, the biopsy did not seem to complicate the enucleation of the tumor at the time of surgery. The patient had an uneventful recovery.