Robot-assisted surgeries are becoming more commonplace, and having greater success. They have become state of the art for prostatic and pelvic surgeries and have a widespread recognition for being superior in the right hands. A recent randomized trial showed robotic laparoscopic esophagectomy led to significantly fewer complications while achieving similar cancer control, compared with open surgery for resectable esophageal cancer.

Robot-assisted esophagectomies had an overall complication rate of 59% compared with 80% for open transthoracic esophagectomy (P=0.02). Blood loss, pulmonary complications, and cardiac complications all were significantly reduced with robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery.

See the review article on MedPage Today here.

(photo: stock footage of DaVinci Robotic System)