Laparoscopic hysterectomy may be better with the robot

An Italian meta-analysis assessing differences between traditional and robot-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy found the robotic approach superior in shorter length of hospital stay, fewer complications, and fewer conversions to laparotomy.

"These results confirm that robot-assisted laparoscopy has less deleterious effect on hospital, society, and patient stress and leads to better quality of life," the authors write.

Researchers at the University of Verona analyzed 21 published studies comparing 1,280 robotic and 1,386 laparoscopic hysterectomies for benign and malignant conditions. They analyzed the data using 5 key indices representing societal and hospital costs, patient safety, and quality of intervention: estimated blood loss, operative time, number of conversions to laparotomy, length of hospital stay, and number of postsurgical complications. Patient age, body mass index, uterine weight, and number of nodes retrieved also were considered.

Scandola M, Grespan L, Vicentini M, Fiorini P. Robot-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy vs traditional laparoscopic hysterectomy: five metaanalyses. J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2011;18(6):705-715.