2007 World Robotic Gyn Symposium: the dawn of a new age in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery

Technical advancements have clearly brought about improvements to modern day minimally invasive surgery. This technology has continued to grow by leaps and bounds in all areas of laparoscopy including robotics. Historically, gynecologists have been early adopters and pioneers in the area robotic surgery with utilization of early robotic platforms such as AESOP and Zeus (both Computer Motion, Goleta, CA, USA). Since then, newer surgical platforms such as the daVinci surgical system (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) have been introduced. Since FDA approval for gynecology in April 2005, the role of robotics in gynecologic surgery has grown and resulted in an evolution and paradigm shift. On 13–14 April 2007, the Wrst world robotic symposium dedicated solely to gynecology was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This event brought to the University of Michigan over 140 participants from throughout the United States and as far away as Asia and Europe. The faculty comprised leading experts who represented the various subspecialty aspects of gynecologic surgery with a combined robotic surgery experience of over 2,000 cases. In addition to cutting edge lectures on various surgical techniques and outcomes, there were three live telesurgeries featured, and breakout sessions. The following overview will touch upon some of the highlights from this groundbreaking event. Although the gamut of robot-assisted gynecologic surgery was addressed over the two-day symposium, it became immediately apparent that one of the biggest areas of impact was oncology. Javier F. Magrina, MD from the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, started things oV with an impressive review of 563 patients treated robotically between February 2003 and December 2006. As Director of Gynecologic Oncology, Dr Magrina demonstrated the advantages of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy. Surgical outcomes such as operative time, estimated blood loss, and lymph node count were either equal to or better than conventional laparoscopy and laparotomy. This was further supported by data on both cervical and endometrial cancer staging from John Boggess, MD who also demonstrated the technique of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy in a live telesurgery from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Finally, Ricardo Estape, MD from Miami discussed how to maximize the impact of robotics on your surgical practice and Robert Morris, MD from Wayne State University showed how lateral thinking enabled his team to perform a robot-assisted radical trachelectomy. Although Wve-year survival data were absent, these presentations pointed towards a promising future in oncologic surgery. Reproductive surgical applications were also highlighted at this symposium. I was able to share my six years of experience with robot-assisted laparoscopic myomectomy for the management of symptomatic leiomyomata along with Michael Pitter, MD from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Technical approaches to various pathological presentations were emphasized along with available short-term outcomes. In addition to Wbroid management, robotic applications in advanced endometriosis, tubal reversal, and ovarian conservation surgery (cystectomy and transposition) were discussed. Altogether, the area of reproductive surgery represented numerous possibilities. This was complemented by the introduction of a relatively new but burgeoning A. P. Advincula (&) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan Medical Center, L 4000 Women’s Hospital, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA e-mail: [email protected]