Recovery after robot-assisted laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy: the patients' perspective

Little information exists about recovery after robot-assisted laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy. We sought to report on subjects' perioperative experience. Subjects were queried about resumption of activities such as work and driving, bowel function, whether recovery went as expected, and whether they would recommend this surgery. Use of pain medications, pain scores, and perioperative data were collected N = 21. All would recommend surgery to a friend. 13/18 (72%) felt their recovery went better than expected, and none responded it was worse than expected. 9/21 (43%) did not use narcotics after the day of surgery, with 15/21 (71%) no longer taking narcotics by postoperative day 4. Fifty-five percent experienced their first postoperative bowel movement as painful. Based on this survey, most patients undergoing robot-assisted laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy will not require narcotics beyond postoperative day 3. Nonsteroidals are the mainstay of pain management. This survey highlights the importance of preventing postoperative constipation/ painful defecation.