[Short Term and Long Term Outcomes of Robotic Surgery in Sphincter Function Preserving Surgery for Lower Rectal...

Surgical and oncological outcomes of lower rectal cancer remain unsatisfactory. We investigated the short term and long term outcomes of robotic surgery for sphincter function-preserving surgery(SPS)for lower rectal cancer.

433 lower rectal cancer patients who underwent SPS at our institution from January 2000 to July 2021 were included, excluding Stage Ⅳ cases and patients with multiple cancers. There were 288 cases of laparotomy, 81 cases of laparoscopic surgery, and 64 cases of robotic surgery; we abbreviated the group names as: OP, LAP, and R, respectively. We retrospectively reviewed the anastomotic leakage rate and prognosis of these groups.

The anastomotic leakage rate was 23.6% in the OP group, 17.3% in the LAP group, and 6.3% in the R group, with a significant difference between the OP group and the R group. The 3-year recurrence free survival rate was 86.7% in the LAP group and 95.6% in the R group. Although there was no significant difference, the prognosis tended to be better in the R group. Local recurrence was observed in 3 patients in the LAP group and 1 patient in the R group.

In SPS for advanced lower rectal cancer, robotic surgery may contribute to a reduction in anastomotic leakage.