Robot Surgery Shows Similar Long-term Oncologic Outcomes as Laparoscopic Surgery for Mid/Lower Rectal Cancer but Is Beneficial to ypT3/4 after Preoperative Chemoradiation

BACKGROUND: The long-term oncologic efficacy of robotic surgery for patients with rectal cancer is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate survival outcomes of robotic total mesorectal excision for mid/low rectal cancer compared with those of laparoscopic surgery. DESIGN: We performed a single-center retrospective analysis. SETTING: The data of a tertiary academic institution was reviewed. PATIENTS: A total of 705 patients underwent laparoscopic (n = 415) or robotic (n = 118) low anterior resection for stage I to III mid/low rectal cancer. A total of 118 patients in each group were selected from the original data set by using propensity score matching. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcomes were 5-year disease-free survival, distant recurrence, and local recurrence. RESULTS: The 2 groups were balanced in terms of basic characteristics, perioperative treatment, and pathological stage. The 5-year disease-free survival rate was 80.5% in the laparoscopic group and 87.6% in the robotic group (p = 0.118). The 5-year distant recurrence rate and local recurrence rate were 19.0% and 4.2% in the laparoscopic group and 10.0% and 3.7% in the robotic group (p = 0.048 and p = 0.846). In a subgroup of patients who received preoperative chemoradiation and had ypT3/4 tumors, the 5-year distant recurrence and local recurrence rates were 44.8% and 5.0% in the laparoscopic group and 9.8% and 9.8% in the robotic group (p = 0.014 and p = 0.597). LIMITATIONS: The retrospective nature of the study, potential selection bias with distinct demographics between the groups, and relatively small number of cases are limitations. CONCLUSIONS: Robotic surgery for mid/low rectal cancer shows similar long-term oncologic outcomes with laparoscopic surgery but is beneficial to a certain group of patients with advanced rectal cancer with poor response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation. Additional studies are required to confirm our results. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/B546.