Radical resection of gallbladder cancer: could it be robotic?

The only potentially curative option for patients with gallbladder cancer is radical resection. This is the first report that describes the successful application of a minimally invasive, robot-assisted radical resection, including lymphadenectomy, in five gallbladder cancer patients.

Medical records of patients who underwent radical resection of gallbladder cancer via the da Vinci robotic surgical system in the Hepato-Bilio-Pancreatic Surgical Department of the Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, China, between March 2010 and July 2011 were reviewed and analyzed.

Robot-assisted radical resection was successful in all five patients. The mean number of excised lymph nodes was 9 (range = 3-11), mean operative time was 200 min (range = 120-300 min), mean intraoperative blood loss was 210 ml (range = 50-400 ml), and mean length of hospital stay was 7.4 days (range = 7-8 days). All patients were discharged with no reported complications. Mean postoperative follow-up was 11 months (range = 1-17 months). One patient died due to tumor recurrence 10 months postsurgically, but there was no recurrence in the remaining four patients during the follow-up period.

Robot-assisted radical resection for gallbladder cancer is both feasible and safe. Compared to laparoscopic surgery, the robotic surgery system is better suited for subtle dissection in a narrow, deep space. This is advantageous for both the removal of lymph nodes near the pancreas and hepatoduodenal ligament and the skeletonization of the hepatoduodenal ligament, the hepatic artery, and the celiac axis. The long-term outcome and direct comparisons to laparotomy in a larger patient cohort are needed to provide more clinical data supporting the superiority of this approach.