Efficacy and Safety of Robotic Procedures Performed Using the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System at a Single Institute in Korea: Experience with 10000 Cases.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of robotic procedures performed using the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System at a single institute.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We analyzed all robotic procedures performed at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University Health System (Seoul, Korea). Reliability and mortality rates of the robotic surgeries were also investigated.

RESULTS

From July 2005 to December 2013, 10267 da Vinci robotic procedures were performed in seven different departments by 47 surgeons at our institute. There were 5641 cases (54.9%) of general surgery, including endocrine (38.0%), upper (7.7%) and lower gastrointestinal tract (7.5%), hepato-biliary and pancreatic (1.2%), and pediatric (0.6%) surgeries. Urologic surgery (33.0%) was the second most common, followed by otorhinolaryngologic (7.0%), obstetric and gynecologic (3.2%), thoracic (1.5%), cardiac (0.3%), and neurosurgery (0.1%). Thyroid (40.8%) and prostate (27.4%) procedures accounted for more than half of all surgeries, followed by stomach (7.6%), colorectal (7.5%), kidney and ureter (5.1%), head and neck (4.0%), uterus (3.2%), thoracic (1.5%), and other (2.9%) surgeries. Most surgeries (94.5%) were performed for malignancies. General and urologic surgeries rapidly increased after 2005, whereas others increased slowly. Thyroid and prostate surgeries increased rapidly after 2007. Surgeries for benign conditions accounted for a small portion of all procedures, although the numbers thereof have been steadily increasing. System malfunctions and failures were reported in 185 (1.8%) cases. Mortality related to robotic surgery was observed for 12 (0.12%) cases.

CONCLUSION

Robotic surgeries have increased steadily at our institution. The da Vinci Robotic Surgical System is effective and safe for use during surgery.