Satellite Symposia and Sponsored Talks

Memic Symposium: Saturday September 25th, 10:40 - 11:10

Clinical Experience with Robotic Assisted Vaginal Surgery"

Jan Baekelandt MD, PhD
Gynecological Oncology and Endoscopy, Imelda Hospital
Bonheiden, Antwerpen, Belgium

When feasible, vaginal hysterectomy has been shown to be the safest and most cost-effective route to remove the uterus compared to abdominal, laparoscopic or robotic laparoscopic techniques. However, vaginal hysterectomy is performed in only 20% of benign cases.

This study presents the clinical safety and efficacy of a novel surgical robotic system with humanoid-shaped instrument arms that is designed to combine the advantages of laparoscopic surgery, robot assisted laparoscopic surgery and the vaginal approach for benign hysterectomy. Thirty eligible female patients participated in a multi-center, single arm, prospective study to clinically assess a novel robotic system for robotic assisted vaginal surgery with salpingectomy or salpingo-oophorectomy.  The mean subject age was 57.2 years, and the mean BMI was 26 (ranged between 17.6 to 40.0).

The transvaginal robotic system performed as intended and all procedures were completed successfully with no conversions to open or laparoscopic surgery. No intraoperative complications, transfusion, bladder, or rectal injuries were observed, and no robotic system malfunctions or other device-related deficiencies were reported.

The procedures had an average time of 57 minutes (range: 24 to 88 min) with the estimated blood loss for 80% of subjects less than 100ml (24/30), 13% between 100-200ml (4/30) and 7% at 400ml (2/30). All patients’ vaginal cuff and point of entry healed as expected at the six weeks follow up visit. The positive results of this clinical series show this new approach using a surgical robotic system with humanoid-shaped instrument arms to be both a safe and effective tool for robotic assisted vaginal surgery.