Insight into the da Vinci® Xi - technical notes for single-docking left-sided colorectal procedures

Background The adoption of robot-assisted laparoscopic colorectal surgery has been hampered by issues with docking, operative duration, technical difficulties in multi-quadrant access, and cost. The da Vinci® Xi has been designed to overcome some of these limitations. We describe our experience with the system and offer technical insights to its application in left-sided colorectal procedures. Methods Our initial series of left-sided robotic colorectal procedures was evaluated. Patient demographics and operative outcomes were recorded prospectively using a predefined database. Results Between March 2015 and April 2016, 54 cases of robot-assisted laparoscopic left-sided colorectal procedures were successfully completed with no cases of conversion. The majority were low anterior resections for colorectal malignancies. Using the da Vinci® Xi Surgical System, multi-quadrant surgery involving dissection from the splenic flexure to the pelvis was possible without redocking. Conclusions The da Vinci® Xi simplifies the docking procedure and makes single-docking feasible for multi-quadrant left-sided colorectal procedures.