Robotic assisted hysterectomy in obese patients: a systematic review

Objective Robotic hysterectomy is an alternative approach to the management of female genital tract pathology. Methods A systematic literature review was performed to evaluate the till now available literature evidence on robotic assisted hysterectomy in obese and morbidly obese patients. Results In total, robotic assisted hysterectomy was performed on 2769 patients. The most frequent indication for robotic hysterectomy was endometrial carcinoma (1832 out of 2769 patients, 66.2 %). Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and venous thromboembolism were the most common comorbidities reported. The conversion rate to laparotomy was 92 out of 2226 patients (4.1 %). The most frequent intraoperative complications for robotic hysterectomy were gastrointestinal injury (17 out of 2769 patients, 0.6 %), haemorrhage (five out of 2769 patients, 0.2 %) and bladder injury (five out of 2769 patients, 0.2 %). Wound infections/dehiscence (66 out of 2769 patients, 2.4 %), fever (56 out of 2769 patients, 2 %), pulmonary complications (55 out of 2769 patients, 1.9 %), urogenital complications (36 out of 2769 patients, 1.3 %) and postoperative ileus (28 out of 2769 patients, 1 %) were the most common postoperative complications. Death was reported in three out of 2769 patients (0.1 %). The ICU admitted patients were eight of 2226 patients (0.4 %). Conclusion The robotic technique, especially in obese, can optimize the surgical approach and recovery of such patients with equally if not better outcomes compared to open and/or laparoscopic techniques.