SPECIAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Chirurgica 2019 October;74(5):431-7

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4733.18.07807-0

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Operative technique in robotic left colonic resection

Alberto MANGANO ✉, Valentina VALLE, Eduardo FERNANDES, Roberto BUSTOS, Federico GHEZA, Pier C. GIULIANOTTI

Division of General, Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Minimally invasive techniques have changed the clinical practice in general surgery and provided an improvement of outcomes. Laparoscopic and open surgery have similar oncological outcomes in the colorectal field. Those findings have been proven by prospective randomized multicenter trials and systematic reviews. However, some colorectal operations are still being performed by the open approach. This is partially related to the technical hurdles of the laparoscopic approach (particularly for more complex cases). Robotic surgery can be beneficial in overcoming the laparoscopic hurdles and limitations. Indeed, given the improved dexterity, the 3D stereotactic magnified view (with the camera controlled directly by the surgeon), the tremor filtering technology and the 7 degrees of liberty of the surgical instruments can guarantee a more accurate surgical dissection and tissue manipulation. Herein, after a large robotic experience in this field connected to a robotic program started by Giulianotti et al. in October 2000, we present our approach to robotic left colonic resection with routine splenic flexure mobilization. This approach may be helpful to get more reproducible results, it may be a technical guide and also an additional training tool for surgical residents.

KEY WORDS: Robotic surgical procedures; Colectomy; Colorectal surgery; Minimally invasive surgical procedures