Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Aim To describe our centre’s experience in establishing a robotic programme for colorectal surgery procedures. Method Demographic, peri-operative and follow-up data from a prospectively maintained database were collected for all laparoscopic and robotic assisted colorectal procedures carried out at our centre. Results 38 colorectal resections were completed with the DaVinci Xi (Intuitive Surgical, USA) robotic platform between April-December 2023. These were compared to a laparoscopic cohort of 57 consecutive colorectal resections. 37% (n=14) of the robotic cases were proctored and all were resections for malignancy. There were 57.9% (n=22) males in the robotic cohort and 50.9% (n=28) in the laparoscopic cohort. There was no statistical difference between the demographics of the two cohorts in terms of age, body mass index and ASA grade. 21/38 (55.3%) robotic resections were left sided compared to 35/57 (61.4%) laparoscopic resections. No robotic cases were converted to open or laparoscopy, but 8.8% (n=5) of laparoscopic cases were converted to open. Laparoscopic procedures were shorter (median operative time 277 min compared to 412 min, p0.001). A stoma was formed in 13/38 (34.2%) robotic cases and 16/57 (28.1%) laparoscopic cases. All bowel anastomoses performed in the robotic cohort were stapled with 16/32 (50.0%) being intra-corporeal. The median length of stay was 5 days for both cohorts. 5.3% (n=2/38) Vs 12.3% (n=7/57) had a significant post-operative complication (Clavien-Dindo ³3). No mortalities were recorded within 90 days of the procedures. Conclusions Other than longer operative times, robotic colorectal resections in a district hospital setting is comparable to laparoscopic resections.
Moolamannil et al. (Sun,) studied this question.