Conclusion
This single institution study, with one surgical team over a period of
ten years, suggests the initial learning phase of robot-assisted
laparoscopy in early stage cervical cancer to be at least 61 procedures,
with a significant increase in disease-free survival and
disease-specific survival after this initial learning phase. Overall,
robot-assisted laparoscopy in patients with early stage cervical cancer
shows high survival rates, comparable with observational results both
historically after open surgery as well as currently in national surveys
of robot-assisted surgery, when performed by an experienced surgical
team. The impact of the learning curve of robot-assisted surgery on
oncological outcomes warrants more attention and should be included in
future studies on the safety of robot-assisted surgery.