Background and purpose: Robotic technology has recently been introduced to gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery. Its addition offers the promise of opening more procedures up to minimally invasive surgery. One system is described and illustrated in detail using antireflux surgery as an example.
Patients and methods: Seventy patients underwent robotically assisted gastrointestinal surgical procedures. These procedures were antireflux surgery (25), bowel resection (18), cholecystectomy (8), Heller myotomy (5), splenectomy (5), exploratory laparoscopy (4), adrenalectomy (1), pyloroplasty (1), and resection of a gastric mass (1) and duodenal (1) and colonic (1) polyps.
Results and conclusion: Seventeen percent of patients required conversion to either an open or a standard laparoscopic procedure. This early experience with an the first Food and Drug Administration-approved general surgery robotic surgical system showed that it is safe and effective, the system has significant promise.