Introduction/Background The management of gynaecological malignancies often involves surgical intervention, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or a combination of the above. Minimally invasive surgical techniques lead to reduced hospital stay and complications. Robot-assisted surgery allows for precise tissue handling via wristed instrumentation and 3D camera view and also improved ergonomics for the surgeon, which is extremely useful in the management of morbidly obese and frail patients.

Methodology Data were retrospectively collected for all the cases of robotic hysterectomies over a period of 5 years. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software.

Results 183 cases were included in the analysis. The median age and BMI of the study population was 64 and 31.6 respectively. Endometrial cancer was the main indication for the operation (69% of cases). Other indications included atypical endometrial hyperplasia, cervical cancer, persistent CIN, CGIN, pelvic cysts and persistent menorrhagia. The median operative time was 150 minutes (including 30–40 minutes anesthetic and patient positioning time). 51 cases had a sentinel lymph node biopsy, 49 had a full pelvic lymph node dissection, 36 had omental biopsy and 5 cases had para-aortic lymph node sampling. The median hospital stay was 2 days. Conversion to laparotomy did not happen in any case, however 2 cases returned to theatre due to intra-abdominal bleeding. 25 cases (13.6%) developed a post-operative complication, most commonly sepsis, thigh numbness and hyponatremia.

Conclusion Robot-assisted surgery is a safe minimally invasive technique for the treatment of gynaecological cancer. It has several advantages, including very low laparotomy conversion rate, reduced hospital stay even for complex procedures, low post-operative complication rate and improved ergonomics for the surgeon. Further research is needed in order to assess the cost-effectiveness of robot-assisted surgery against conventional laparoscopic techniques.

Disclosures N/A