Robotic surgery superior to open surgery for kidney cancer removal

 

The largest  Australian study of partial kidney removal (partial nephrectomy) for kidney cancer published by A/Prof Moon [1] has shown significant benefits of robotic surgery, with advanced keyhole surgical techniques used to remove cancers without having to remove the entire kidney.

 

A/Prof Moon analysed 200 procedures comparing open and robotic surgery, and found that even though robotic surgery was used more often to remove larger and more complicated tumours than open surgery, those patients having robotic surgery showed advantages of:

• shorter hospitalization

• lower complication rates

• lower blood transfusion rates

• far lower risk of incomplete tumour removal (positive surgical margin)

Kidney function recovered equally well in patients undergoing robotic surgery, and these results support the argument that robotic surgery should become the gold standard for patients requiring kidney cancer surgery.

 

Lynn-Tan J, Moon D et al  A comparison of perioperative, renal and oncologic outcomes in robotic-assisted versus open partial nephrectomy.  ANZ J Surgery 2018  Mar;88(3):E194-E199