Expanding the Utilization of Robotic Procedures in Urologic Surgery

Abstract

Although the word “robot” was coined in 1921, only close to 70 years later were robotic devices developed to assist during surgery. Urology has always been at the forefront of endoscopic, minimally invasive, and robotic developments in medicine. Robotic prostatectomy signaled the emerging role of robotic surgery in urology, but since then it has been applied to every urologic laparoscopic procedure.

Does Robot-assisted Surgery in Urology Has Benefits? The Current Status

“…Robot has been used in the field of urology in many operations such as adrenalectomy, simple and radical nephrectomy, partial nephrectomy, vena cava thrombectomy, nephroureterectomy, live donor nephrectomy, renal transplantation, pyeloplasty, ureter surgery, radical and partial cystectomy, bladder augmentation, simple and radical prostatectomy, retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, varicocelectomy, testicular sperm extraction, re-anastomosis after vasectomy and spermatic cord denervation (6). Aside from this wide range of applications, robot has been questioned in terms of cost effectiveness even in areas such as radical prostatectomy, radical and partial nephrectomy, where it is used most.…”

“…The first robot-assisted radical prostatectomy was quickly accepted by urologists after its description in 2000 and it has become the most widely used field of robotic surgery today (6,7). In a systematic review, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy, laparoscopic prostatectomy and conventional surgery were compared, and there was no difference in terms of complications, oncologic outcomes, erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence, but the laparoscopic and robot-assisted groups were similar in terms of blood transfusion rates and short duration of hospital stay, however, robot-assisted group was found to be more advantageous than the surgical group (8).…”