[Launching Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery for Rectal Cancer in Our Hospital-Short-Term Results]

Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery(RALS)for rectal cancer has been covered by National Health Insurance in Japan since April 2018. We launched RALS in our hospital in October 2019 and now report the short-term results(up to January 2020). Altogether, 15 consecutive patients(12 men, 3 women: median age 70 years)with rectal cancer underwent RALS during that period. For the first 2 cases, we performed RALS under the instruction of an experienced proctor from another institution. Among the 15 patients, 6 underwent high anterior resection and 9 low anterior resection. Median operating time was 358 min, median intraoperative blood loss was 0 mL, and there were no apparent intraoperative complications. Median postoperative length of hospital stay was 13 days, and only 1 patient developed a high-grade complication(Clavien-Dindo Grade Ⅲb)postoperatively. Hence, RALS for rectal cancer was launched successfully in our institution.