Early experience with the da Vinci® surgical system robot in gynecological surgery at King Abdulaziz University Hospital

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to review our experience and the challenges of using the da Vinci(®) surgical system robot during gynecological surgery at King Abdulaziz University Hospital. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted to review all cases of robot-assisted gynecologic surgery performed at our institution between January 2008 and December 2010. The patients were reviewed for indications, complications, length of hospital stay, and conversion rate, as well as console and docking times. RESULTS Over the three-year period, we operated on 35 patients with benign or malignant conditions using the robot for a total of 62 surgical procedures. The docking times averaged seven minutes. The mean console times for simple hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy were 125, 47, and 62 minutes, respectively. In four patients, laparoscopic procedures were converted to open procedures, giving a conversion rate of 6.5%. All of the conversions were among the first 15 procedures performed. The average hospital stay was 3 days. Complications occurred in five patients (14%), and none were directly related to the robotic system. CONCLUSION Our early experience with the robot show that with proper training of the robotic team, technical difficulty with the robotic system is limited. There is definitely a learning curve that requires performance of gynecological surgical procedures using the robot.