Minimally invasive surgery for endometrial cancer: a comprehensive review

The objective of this article is to review the recently published literature on the use of minimally invasive surgical approaches for patients with endometrial cancer.

Narrative review of the pertinent literature on traditional laparoscopy and robotically assisted laparoscopy for the treatment of endometrial cancer.

Multiple studies have shown that minimally invasive surgical approaches for the treatment of endometrial cancer reduce blood loss, length of hospital stay and the incidence and severity of post-operative surgical complications compared with laparotomy. Minimally invasive techniques maintain equivalent oncologic results with regard to the number of dissected lymph nodes and overall and disease-free survival rates. Robotically assisted laparoscopy compared to traditional laparoscopy reduced the conversion rate to laparotomy, further reduces intra-operative blood lose and has significant ergonomic advantages for the surgeon. Laparoscopic and robotic surgery techniques are particularly advantageous in obese patients, reducing peri-operative and post-operative abdominal wound complications.

A thorough review of the literature indicates that minimally invasive approach has a number of established advantages over laparotomy that makes it the surgical treatment option of choice in endometrial carcinoma patients.