Five years after surgery for low rectal cancer, patients operated on robotically did as well as those operated on laparoscopically, according to a randomized trial from three Korean centres.
- Overall survival at 5 years was about 92% with either approach in 295 patients.
- Survival without relapse was also similar.
The trial was small, and long-term survival was not its main question. A hint of better local control with the robot after chemoradiotherapy came from an unplanned subgroup analysis and needs confirming.
Comparative Study by Song SH, Min BS (…) Choi GS et 7 al. in Br J Surg
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