Early and late clinico-pathologic outcomes of minimally invasive total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer: A propensity score-matched comparison of robotic and laparoscopic approaches

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to compare the early and late clinical outcomes of laparoscopic and robotic total mesorectal excision (TME) using propensity score matching.

Methods: The retrospective study included 489 patients who underwent laparoscopic or robotic TME for rectal cancer between June 2011 and December 2018. Overall, 131 matched pairs were generated via propensity scoring matching according to several factors.

Results: The matched groups had generally similar demographic characteristics. The robotic TME group had significantly longer mean times for the total operation and the TME procedure. There were no significant differences in terms of the other procedure-specific parameters, although the robotic TME group had significantly shorter duration of hospitalisation and shorter duration of need for postoperative indwelling urinary catheter. Moreover, the robotic TME group had non-significantly lower rates of late postoperative complications and reoperation.

Conclusions: Early and late clinico-pathologic outcomes of robotic TME were comparable to that of laparoscopic TME.