Robotics in urological surgery: evolution, current status and future perspectives

Context: Robotic surgery is rapidly evolving and has become an essential part of surgical practice in several parts of the world. Robotic technology will expand globally and most of the surgeons around the world will have access to surgical robots in the future. It is essential that we are updated about the outcomes of robot assisted surgeries which will allow everyone to develop an unbiased opinion on the clinical utility of this innovation.

Objective: In this review we aim to present the evolution, objective evaluation of clinical outcomes and future perspectives of robot assisted urologic surgeries.

Acquisition of evidence: A systematic literature review of clinical outcomes of robotic urological surgeries was made in the PUBMED. Randomized control trials, cohort studies and review articles were included. Moreover, a detailed search in the web based search engine was made to acquire information on evolution and evolving technologies in robotics.

Synthesis of evidence: The present evidence suggests that the clinical outcomes of the robot assisted urologic surgeries are comparable to the conventional open surgical and laparoscopic results and are associated with fewer complications. However, long term results are not available for all the common robotic urologic surgeries. There are plenty of novel developments in robotics to be available for clinical use in the future.

Conclusion: Robotic urologic surgery will continue to evolve in the future. We should continue to critically analyze whether the advances in technology and the higher cost eventually translates to improved overall surgical performance and outcomes.