Robotic vs laparoscopic hysterectomy: Is there a place for both?

At the Samuel A Cosgrove Memorial Lecture on May 6, 2017, a debate about robotic versus laparoscopic hysterectomy was collegially undertaken by Arnold P Advincula, MD, of the Sloane Hospital for Women at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical School in New York, New York, arguing for the use of the robot in hysterectomy and Matthew Siedhoff, MD, MSCR, at Cedars-Sinai-Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, arguing against using the robot.

At the beginning of the debate, attendees were asked if they used laparoscopic or robotic surgery, with about 50% doing the hysterectomy procedure laparoscopically. They were then asked why they didn’t use the robot. Very few said that size of uterine pathology was the reason for avoiding the robot, while cost and experience were the mostly likely reasons for avoiding the devices.

Read more from Contemporary OBGYN by Miranda Hester on Robotic vs laparoscopic hysterectomy: Is there a place for both?