The current status of robotic surgery for colorectal cancer

摘要

How has robotic surgery for colorectal cancer advanced in the past decade? Robotic-assisted technology was introduced in the mid 1990s to address some of the technical limitations of traditional laparoscopic surgery. The first reported use of robotic-assisted techniques in colorectal surgery dates back to 2001. Since then the robotic approach has been applied to a wide variety of colorectal pathologies such as diverticular disease, benign polyps, rectal prolapse and colorectal cancer. The feasibility and safety of robotic colorectal cancer surgery has been demonstrated in several reports. The number of published studies evaluating the use of robotic-assisted techniques in colorectal cancer surgery has grown from one report in 2002, to 22 reports in 2008. In 2013, there were a total of 172 published reports on robotic colorectal cancer surgery. According to data provided by the da Vinci? robot manufacturer (Intuitive Surgical Inc., CA, USA), 800 robotic units were used worldwide in 2007, increasing to 1750 units in 2010 and 2500 units in 2012.