Robotic Urologic Surgical Interventions Performed with the Single Port Dedicated Platform: First Clinical Investigation

We report the first clinical investigation for surgical procedures performed using the da Vinci SP robotic surgical platform (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) during the first 10 days (September 28-October 12, 2018) after the system was installed at our institution. The aim of the study was to determine the feasibility and safety of major urologic procedures, measured as the rate of conversions and the incidence of perioperative complications. Secondary aims of the study consisted of key perioperative surgical outcomes, including operative time, blood loss, and length of stay. Pathology data were reported. Data collection was performed under institutional review board approval (IRB 13-780). A total of nine patients were treated (3 robot-assisted radical prostatectomies, 3 transperitoneal robot-assisted partial nephrectomies, 1 simple cystectomy with intracorporeal ileal conduit urinary diversion, 2 ureteral reimplantations). No intraoperative complications occurred. In six cases the surgeries were performed according to a pure single-site approach. The mean operative time was slightly longer than that reported for the corresponding multiarm robotic procedures in the literature, which can easily be explained by the expected learning curve. One minor and one major complication occurred. A learning curve exists when embarking with this surgery. Further investigations are awaited.