The Robotic Surgery Option for Ovarian Cancer Patients

Robotic surgery is a type of minimally invasive surgery, and uses cameras and special robotic surgery tools to makes it possible for surgeons to operate through a series of small incisions. For ovarian cancer, doctors make about five incisions, each less than a centimeter in size, around the belly button rather than a large open incision down the abdomen midline.

Unfortunately, “robotic surgery is not an option for every woman with ovarian cancer,” says Dr. Lori Weinberg, gynecologic oncologist with Minnesota Oncology. “Most patients with ovarian cancer have disease that is spread out in multiple places, where the robotic platform just cannot achieve what we can do through an open incision. We really have to tailor our approach to treatment based on what we’re seeing from the imaging, and also on a patient’s physical exam.”

There are certain cases where minimally invasive surgery might be appropriate for treating ovarian cancer: For instance, for patients whose disease is focused in the pelvis, rather than spread out. In those scenarios surgeons could remove the cancer through small incisions, and using small instruments. Or if a patient’s had neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which is chemotherapy given upfront before surgery. After three or four cycles it’s possible that for some, the tumor may have shrunk to such a degree that minimally invasive surgery would be the best approach. The added good news for patients is that recovery is quicker, and they can avoid a longer hospital stay.

“It’s nice when we can use robotic surgery, but the traditional approach of an open incision surgery is usually what we fall back on, because for most patients it’s the best way to treat their disease,” Weinberg says. “But when and if the situation is right, robotic surgery is a nice tool to have.”

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