2021 Volume 74 Issue 8 Pages 453-460
Objective: This study aimed to validate surgical outcomes of robot-assisted rectal surgery for highly difficult cases.
Methods: Highly difficult cases who underwent robot-assisted or laparoscopic rectal surgery between June 2019 and October 2020 were included in this retrospective study. Surgical outcomes including patient characteristics, perioperative outcomes and pathological findings were compared between the robotic and laparoscopic groups. The highly difficult cases were defined as all low rectal cancer or middle rectal cancer with any of the following characteristics: male gender, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 and tumor size ≥ 5 cm.
Results: A total of 50 patients were enrolled: 24 cases in the robotic group and 26 cases in the laparoscopic group. In the robotic group, blood loss was less (p = 0.007) and postoperative stay was shorter (p = 0.024). There were no statistically significant differences in operating time, conversion rate, postoperative complications or pathological findings between the two groups.
Conclusion: These results suggest that robot-assisted rectal surgery for highly difficult cases has several benefits in terms of surgical outcomes.
