Learning curve and early clinical outcomes for a robotic surgery novice performing robotic single site cholecystectomy

BACKGROUND: A rapid training protocol has been developed for robotic surgery novices to learn robotic single-incision techniques. This study assesses the learning curve and early clinical results for a robotic surgery novice starting single-site cholecystectomy. METHODS: A chart review was performed on the surgeon's first 55 patients to undergo this procedure. RESULTS: Average patient age was 46.01 ± 4.25 (range 21-86) years and BMI was 26.57 ± 4.25 (range 19.4-36.6) kg/m(2) . The mean port placement with docking time was 11.34 ± 3.74 (range 7-23) min. Mean console time was 28.74 ± 11.04 (range 15-66) min. Average total OR time was 61.84 ± 14.66 (range 40-105) min. All procedures were successfully completed without conversion or added ports. Complications included several minor procedural gall bladder perforations and miscellaneous postoperative symptomatic complaints. CONCLUSION: Robotic single site cholecystectomy can be safely performed by a robotic novice within a minimal learning curve and have early clinical results that are comparable to the published data of robotic experts.