Microinvasive and robotic surgery provide improved precision and shorter recovery. The da Vinci Surgical System was introduced in 1999 by Intuitive Surgical and has gain wider acceptance. The surgeon sits at a console and robotic arms are used to produce the finer movements that are required for dissection, suturing and knot tying. The precision achieved is due to the magnified three-dimensional view and reduction of hand movements to half or one third of the original.
Instruments of the robotic system bend at the tip to provide the wrist motions. This system allows surgery for very obese patients especially those with endometrial cancer. Obesity is a major risk factor for any surgical procedure. Obesity also predisposes to uterine cancer due to the estrogens produced by the fatty tissues. These estrogens are responsible in the development and growth of endometrial cancer. This, coupled with the fact that obesity and metabolic syndrome is now the greatest health problem faced in the US, makes the robotic approach ideally suited.