Laparoscopic robotic assisted surgery in reproductive medicine

Abstract

Laparoscopic Robot-assisted surgery is one of the most promising and rapidly developing surgical advancements of the twenty-first century with a potential to make significant contributions to reproductive medicine and preservation of fertility. Presently, laparoscopic robotic assisted surgery is used for various benign and malignant gynecological procedures, including fertility enhancing procedures. Laparoscopic Robot-assisted surgery is superior to traditional open procedures with regards to post-surgical hospital stay and blood loss; however, the difference is comparable to laparoscopic surgery. Regarding operative times, the results have been inconsistent due to variations in surgeons’ experience. The primary drawbacks of robotic systems are their high installation and maintenance costs and historical lack of tactile feedback; however, this has been overcome by the most recent evolution of robotic systems. Along with the major advances in cancer therapy, the number of female cancer survivors of reproductive age has dramatically increased. Consequently, fertility preservation and fertility enhancement have gained more emphasis in reproductive surgery in the last decade. A broad range of surgical procedures such as tubal reanastomosis, myomectomy, treatment of deep infiltrating endometriosis, ovarian transposition, radical trachelectomy, and ovarian transplantation has been introduced to restore or preserve fertility using Laparoscopic Robot-assisted surgery. In this article, we aim to present the current applications, advantages, and disadvantages of Laparoscopic Robot-assisted surgical technology in the field of reproductive surgery, including the more recent advances of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field.