Robotic Hysterectomy: Procedures Increasing, But Questions Remain

The US has the highest rate of hysterectomy in the industrialized world, and according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, it is the second most frequently performed surgical procedure in women (after Cesarean section). Approximately 600,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the US, with the vast majority for noncancerous conditions such as menorrhagia. The total number of procedures has been on a gradual decline over the last several years; however, the number of cases performed minimally invasively and robotically is going up. Robotic-assisted hysterectomy using the only US Food and Drug Administration-approved system, the da Vinci Surgical System from Intuitive Surgical Inc., was performed in approximately 176,000 patients in 2012, up from about 140,000 cases in 2011, according to the company. However, controversies persist with robotic technology, and the results of a new study cite the potential higher costs of robotics.

According to the results of a large cohort study published February 20 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, while da Vinci hysterectomy (dVH) clinical results are equivalent to...