Robotics as a new surgical minimally invasive approach to treatment of endometriosis: a systematic review.

Carvalho, Luiz; Abrão, Mauricio Simões; Deshpande, Abhishek; Falcone, Tommaso

BACKGROUND This systematic review evaluates the role of robotics in the surgical treatment of endometriosis. METHODS Electronic database searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Scopus, and ISI Web of Knowledge for relevant studies over the past 10 years. RESULTS Four published articles were found that used robotic assisted laparoscopy to perform endometriosis surgery. All four studies used the da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA). Three studies were case reports, and one was a cohort study. Robotics appears to be as effective as conventional laparoscopy in the management of endometriosis. There were no reports of any major complications. CONCLUSIONS Few studies have been published and show us that robotic endometriosis surgery is feasible even in severe endometriosis cases without conversion. There is a lack of long-term outcome papers in the literature. Randomized controlled trials are necessary.