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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Surg Proced. Mar 28, 2015; 5(1): 142-146
Published online Mar 28, 2015. doi: 10.5412/wjsp.v5.i1.142
Published online Mar 28, 2015. doi: 10.5412/wjsp.v5.i1.142
Robotic surgery vs conventional laparoscopy for the treatment of rectal cancer: Review of the literature
Antonio Privitera, Amro Salem, Khalil Elgendy, Khalid Sabr, Colorectal Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Al Muraikabat, Dammam 32253-3202, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Privitera A studied design and paper writing; Salem A contributed to data collection; Elgendy K performed the data analysis; Sabr K conducted study coordination and revision.
Conflict-of-interest: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Antonio Privitera, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon, Colorectal Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, 6830 Ammar Bin Thabit St, Al Muraikabat, Dammam 32253-3202, Saudi Arabia. privitera@hotmail.com
Telephone: +966-13-8431111 Fax: +966-13-8414809
Received: November 28, 2014
Peer-review started: November 29, 2014
First decision: December 12, 2014
Revised: January 23, 2015
Accepted: February 9, 2015
Article in press: February 11, 2015
Published online: March 28, 2015
Peer-review started: November 29, 2014
First decision: December 12, 2014
Revised: January 23, 2015
Accepted: February 9, 2015
Article in press: February 11, 2015
Published online: March 28, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Robotic surgery for rectal cancer is a promising approach since it allows a better view of the pelvic cavity and enhanced freedom of instrument movements when compared to conventional laparoscopy. This would potentially translate into a better oncological dissection, and reduced risk of injury to neurovascular structures. This review of the literature shows that no definite conclusion of the potential benefits of robotic surgery can be drawn, and that larger prospective studies with long-term follow up are needed to establish the role of the procedure.