Chong CO, et al. - Researchers performed a comparison of long-term oncological outcomes, complication rates, and recurrence patterns of robotic radical hysterectomy (RRH) with laparoscopic radical hysterectomy (LRH) for the treatment of early-stage cervical cancer. Inferior long-term oncological outcomes and postoperative complication rates were observed with RRH even when performed by an experienced laparoscopic oncologist, compared with those of LRH during the learning period.

Methods

• Sixty five consecutive patients underwent RRH during the learning period, and 60 consecutive patients underwent LRH during the experienced period from January 2008 to December 2013.

Results

• With respect to clinicopathologic characteristics, the groups were similar.
• Significantly longer mean operative time in the RRH group than that in the LRH group was observed (277.8 ± 57.3 vs 199.6 ± 45.0 minutes; P < 0.0001).
• The RRH group had significantly higher postoperative complication rates compared to that in the LRH group (47.7% vs 27.1%; P=0.0188).
• The estimated disease-free survival rates between the 2 groups were similar (P=0.3152); however, the estimated overall survival of RRH was lower than that of LRH with marginal significance (P=0.0762).
• In terms of recurrence pattern, no significant difference between the 2 groups was evident(P=0.7041).
• However, only the RRH group showed peritoneal recurrences.