Photo Credit: Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeen

A large retrospective cohort study of patients with type 2 endometrial cancer found no differences in overall survival (OS) with conventional laparoscopy and robot-assisted laparoscopy (RAL), according to results published in Cancers (Basel). Ioannis Alagkiozidis, MD, and colleagues examined OS and surgical outcomes with conventional laparoscopy versus RAL in a large cohort of women who underwent hysterectomy for type 2 endometrial cancer. Of 7,168 patients, 5,074 underwent RAL; these women were less likely to have stage 3 disease (P=0.008) and had smaller primary tumors (P<0.001). In a multivariable model, there was no difference in OS between surgery type. RAL was associated with lower risk for conversion to laparotomy (2.7% vs 12.0%; P<0.001), shorter hospital stays (1 vs 2 days; P<0.001), reduced 90-day mortality (1.3% vs 2.2%; P=0.004), and a greater number of lymph nodes sampled (14 vs 12; P<0.001). In multivariable analysis, the use of RAL was independently associated with a reduced rate of conversion to laparotomy.