Robotic radical hysterectomy in early-stage cervical carcinoma patients, comparing results with total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy cases. The future is now?

Background We evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy and bilateral pelvic lymph node dissection for early cervical carcinoma, comparing the results with those from conventional total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy. Methods Type II and III radical hysterectomies were performed in 15 patients with early-stage cervical carcinoma as a pilot case-control study at a comprehensive cancer center-university teaching hospital setting. The adequacy of the operations was determined and documented in DVD/video. Results All operations were performed according to a well-established study protocol. No conversions or technical incidents were observed in the robotic group. Median operation time was 241 and 300 min in the robotic and conventional laparoscopic groups, respectively (p = 0.165). The histopathological results concerning the number of lymph nodes, the parametrial tissue and vaginal cuff size were similar in both groups. Less bleeding and a shorter hospital stay were observed in the robotic-assisted group (p = 0.038 and p = 0.004, respectively). Conclusions Although the benefits of this technique have not yet been established in a prospective randomized manner, we showed the technical feasibility of robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy in early-stage cervical carcinoma cases and better results than with traditional total laparoscopic radical hysterectomy. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.