[Robotic surgery for colorectal cancer in elderly patients]

The outstanding advantages of robotic surgery include the stable and three-dimension image and the convenience of surgery manipulation. The disadvantages include the lack of factile feedback, high cost and prolonged surgery time. It was reported that robotic surgery was associated with less trauma stress and faster recovery in elderly patients(≥75 years old) when compared with open surgery. Elderly people have a higher incidence of carcinogenesis and also have more comorbidities and reduced functional reserve. Clinical data of patients over 75 years old treated by robotic surgery in Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University from March 2011 to October 2014 were analyzed retrospectively. A total of 24 consecutive patients were included with a median age of 77.8 years old. There were 18 male and 6 female patients. Among them, 14 patients were diagnosed with descending and sigmoid colon cancers while 10 with rectal cancers; 19 had tumor size larger than 5 cm; 16 were diagnosed with ulcerative adenocarcinoma. Fourteen patients were complicated with hypertension, 6 with cardiopulmonary diseases, 4 with diabetes mellitus and 3 with cerebrovascular diseases. Twenty-two patients underwent low anterior resection and 2 abdominoperineal resection. The estimated blood loss was 85 ml; the median operation time was (123.1±45.2) min; the median number of retrieved lymph node was 12.4. Postoperative pathologic results showed that 3 patients were stage I, 10 stage II, and 11 stage III. Postoperative complication was observed in 3 patients: urinary infection in 1 case, intraperitoneal infection in 1 case and atria fibrillation in 1 case, respectively. Median time to first postoperative flatus was 2.8 days. Our results indicated that robotic surgery is safe and feasible in the elderly patients. The next generation of robotic system may make up for these deficiencies through new technologies. With the advantage of more advanced surgical simulator, robotic surgery will play a more important role in the treatment of colorectal cancer patients.