Short term morbidity, mortality and oncological outcome in patients with rectal cancer operated by Robot-Assisted laparoscopy: A case-control study of 142 patients

Ismail Gogenur, DSc, Neel M Helvind, MS, Buket Tas, MS, Jens Ravn Eriksen, PhD, Jesper Olsen, MD

Dept. Surgical Gastroenterology. Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark

Background
Robotic-assisted laparoscopy has been reported to be a safe and feasible alternative to traditional laparoscopy. The aim of this study was to compare short-term results in patients with rectal cancer undergoing robot-assisted laparoscopic rectal resection (RRR) or laparoscopic rectal resection (LRR).

Methods
The study was a retrospective case control study of all patients with rectal cancer undergoing RRR from march 2010 to March 2012 or LRR from January 2009 to December 2011 at a tertiary university hospital. Data was retrieved from the national chart-database and patient journals. Biochemical markers were registered before surgery and for the first three days after surgery.

Results
A total of 48 patients underwent RRR and 94 patients underwent LRR. There were no significant differences in the rate of conversion to open surgery, number of permanent enterostomies, number of intraoperative complications, levels of postoperative cellular stress response, number of postoperative complications, length of postoperative hospital stays or 30-day mortality between the two groups. There were no significant differences in the resection plane, circumferential resection margin or rate of R0/R1 resections. There were significantly more lymph nodes in the RRR group (median 19, interquartil range 13-27) compared with the LRR group (median 16, interquartil range 12-22)(P = 0.018).

Conclusion
We find RRR to be a safe and feasible alternative to LRR for rectal cancer. More lymph nodes were found in the RRR group, however, these data should be confirmed in future randomized clinical trials.

Session: Poster Presentation

Program Number: P643