Role of robotic surgery in the management of deep infiltrating endometriosis.

Abstract

Standard laparoscopy (SL) is the gold standard for endometriosis surgery including deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE). DIE laparoscopic surgery can require complex surgical procedures performed by multidisciplinary surgical team. Robotic assisted laparoscopy (RAL) could offer technical advantages such as 3D vision, tremor filtration and better surgical ergonomy. RAL would be able to improve surgical performances compared to SL, decrease perioperative morbidity and decrease the risk of laparo-conversion. For these reasons, DIE could be one of the best indications for RAL in gynecologic surgery. Demonstrating the feasibility of RAL for DIE surgery, few series of cases have been already published. None of them have demonstrated differences in surgical outcomes. One randomized control trial comparing SL to RAL would be mandatory in order to define potential benefits of RAL for DIE surgery.