Is robotic surgery appropriate for vascular procedures? Report of 100 aortoiliac cases.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of our study was to evaluate our clinical experience of the da Vincitrade mark system for robot-assisted aortoiliac reconstructions to treat occlusive disease and aneurysm.


METHODS
Between November 2005 and January 2008 100 consecutive patients were scheduled to undergo robot-assisted laparoscopic aortoiliac procedures. Patients with serious medical problems and those who had previously undergone major abdominal surgery were excluded from the clinical study. Ninety patients were prospectively evaluated for arterial occlusive disease (AOD), seven patients for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), two for common iliac artery aneurysms (CIAA) and one for a combination of CIAA and AOD.


RESULTS
Ninety-seven of 100 procedures (97%) were successfully completed robotically, while conversions were necessary in three patients (3%). The median operating time was 235 minutes (range 150 to 360 minutes), with a median clamp-time of 42 minutes (range 25 to 120 minutes). The median anastomosis time was 29 minutes (range 12 to 60 minutes) and median blood loss was 430mL (range 50 to 1500mL). The median intensive care unit stay was 1.7 days and the median hospital stay was 5.1 days. A regular oral diet was resumed after a mean of 2.4 days. Thirty-day survival was 100% and non-lethal postoperative complications were observed in three patients (3%).


CONCLUSIONS
Robotic aortoiliac surgery appears to be safe, with a high technical success rate, with operative times and success rates comparable to conventional open surgery. The creation of the aortoiliac anastomosis appears to be quicker, and more accurate than regular laparoscopic techniques.
Stádler
P
P
Department of Vascular Surgery, Na Homolce Hospital, Prague 5, Czech Republic. petr.stadler@homolka.cz
Dvorácek
L
L
Vitásek
P
P
Matous
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery*; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017543:Iliac Aneurysm / Q000601:surgery; D007083:Iliac Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods