The advantages of
robot-assisted surgery include: stable deployment of the robotic arm that enables excellent radical cure characteristics and preservation of function; the ability to perform precise surgery even in patients in whom performing laparoscopic surgery is difficult, such as those with pelvic or bulky
tumors. However, there have been some reports on such issues as an increase in the incidence of postoperative complications and an increase in postoperative
hospital stay in patients who underwent
neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NAC); thus, we summarized and are reporting the short-term results of our experience in patients seen in our department to date. A total of 76 patients with
rectal cancer who underwent
robot-assisted surgery, and short-term postoperative results were compared between patients who underwent
neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC group)and those who did not undergo
neoadjuvant chemotherapy(non-NAC group). Of the 76 patients, 59 (77.6%)were male and 17(22.4%)were female, and 27(35.5%)in the NAC group. In the comparisons between the NAC and non-NAC groups, although the difference in
operative time(523.5 vs 317.5 minutes, p<0.01)was significant, there were no significant differences in any of blood loss(59 vs 20g, p=0.22), postoperative
hospital stay(14 vs 13 days: p=0.07), and onset of complications that were Clavien-Dindo Grade Ⅲa or higher(2 vs 1 patients, p=0.82).
Robot- assisted surgery after NAC for
rectal cancer was considered to be safe and very useful.