Impact of a robotic surgical system on hysterectomy trends.

Objective: To determine the impact of introduction of a robotic surgical system on hysterectomy trends.

Methods: A retrospective, cohort study using longitudinal medical records from a tertiary care community hospital was used to determine the surgical approach to hysterectomy. For the purposes of analysis, surgical approaches were categorized as robotically assisted, laparoscopic, laparotomy, vaginal, or laparoscopically assisted vaginal.

Results: A total of 4,440 women underwent a hysterectomy between January 2007 and December 2012 (benign gynecology N = 3,127, gynecologic oncology N = 1,001, urogynecology N = 312). Amongst benign gynecologists, during the five years following introduction of the robotic system, the rate of hysterectomy performed via laparotomy decreased from 62.2 percent to 39.1 percent, p-value < 0.001. The rate of robotically assisted hysterectomy increased from 0.0 percent to 26.4 percent, p-value < 0.001. When subspecialties were examined, the rate of hysterectomy performed by a gynecologic oncologist via laparotomy decreased from 89.7 percent to 20.0 percent, p-value < 0.001. The rate of robotically assisted hysterectomy increased from 0.0 percent to 78.3 percent, p-value < 0.001. Amongst urogynecologists, the rate of hysterectomy performed vaginally decreased from 80.0 percent to 33.6 percent, p-value < 0.001, while the rate of robotically assisted hysterectomy increased from 0.0 percent to 54.2 percent, p-value < 0.001.

Conclusions: The percentage of robotically assisted hysterectomies has dramatically increased and is now the primary modality for performing hysterectomy amongst subspecialists.