This study suggests that robotic single-port inguinal hernia surgery is feasible, safe, and efficient.
Since the introduction of single-incision laparoscopic surgery in 2009, an increasing number of surgical procedures including hernia repair are being performed using this technique. However, its large-scale adoption awaits results of prospective randomized controlled studies confirming its potential benefits. Parallel with single-port surgery development, the issue of the chronic lack of good camera assistants is being addressed by the robotic Freehand® camera controller, which has the potential to replace camera assistants in a large percentage of routine laparoscopic surgery. Although the robotic Freehand has been used in certain operations in urology and gynecology, there have been no published reports in robotic (single-port) hernia surgery.
This study reports the first case and a series of 16 patients who underwent robotic single-port total extraperitoneal inguinal hernia repair compared to 16 consecutive cases of conventional single-port inguinal hernia repair. Patients were matched for age, sex, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, and types of hernia.