Robotic rectal cancer surgery with single side-docking technique: experience of a tertiary care university hospital

Robotics in colorectal surgery has been in the market for 17 years now, and continuously gaining popularity; three-dimensional steady views, great range of motion, tremor filtration, augmented dexterity, and articulated instruments, help surgeons to overcome some of the difficulties of laparoscopy and enables them to reach very low into the pelvis. The objective of our study is to present our experience with robotic, total and partial mesorectal excision and evaluate the efficiency of robotic surgery in the group of patients with rectal tumours. This is a prospective, observational study. The procedures were undertaken in a Teaching hospital in United Kingdom, for 4 years period (11/2014-02/2019). The SI Davinci system was used. Technical and oncological outcomes were assessed. The analysis included 85 patients (49 male) who underwent rectal resections. 80 patients (94%) had cancer. Davinci total mesorectal excision (61) and partial mesorectal excision (24) with single side-docking technique. We reviewed the efficiency of the robotic platform in patients with rectal tumours. Median age was 65 (37-89) years and BMI was 27 kg/m² (19-37.7). 61 patients had tumours within 10 cm from anal verge. There were no deaths and no intraoperative complications. One patient was converted to open, due to system failure. Five patients returned to theatre and two had radiologic drain of a pelvic collection. Median length of hospital stay was 6 days and total operative time was 285 min; after 46 cases, the operative time reduced statistically significant. We removed 35 lymph nodes on average (6-119). R0 resection achieved in 83 patients (97.6%). 75 patients had their sphincters preserved (88.2%). The limitation is that it is a single-institution observational study. Robotic rectal cancer surgery is safe and effective with high rate of sphincter preservation. Our data for short-term outcomes are favourable against previously published data.