Purpose: To explore the safety and feasibility of robot-assisted orbital fat decompression surgery.
Methods: Ten prospectively enrolled patients (18 eyes) with Graves' ophthalmopathy underwent robot-assisted orbital fat decompression surgery with the da Vinci Xi surgical system. Intraoperative blood loss, operative time, and complications were recorded. For every patient, the exophthalmos of the operated eyes and Graves' orbitopathy quality of life (GO-QoL) were measured both preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively to assess the surgical effect.
Results: All surgical procedures were successfully performed. The mean duration to complete the whole procedure was 124.3 ± 33.2 minutes (range, 60-188). The mean intraoperative blood loss was 17.8 ± 6.2 mL (range, 7.5-28). There were neither complications nor unexpected events in terms of either orbital decompression surgery or robot-assisted procedures. The mean exophthalmos was 20.2 ± 1.8 mm before surgery and 17.9 ± 1.4 mm postoperatively (P < 0.0001). The preoperative and postoperative GO-QoL on the visual function arm was 84.38 ± 20.04 and 93.75 ± 9.32, respectively. The preoperative and postoperative GO-QoL on the appearance arm was 42.50 ± 14.97 and 64.38 ± 21.46, respectively (P = 0.027).
Conclusions: The da Vinci Xi surgical system provided the stability, dexterity, and good visualization necessary for orbital fat decompression surgery, indicating the safety and feasibility of robot-assisted orbital fat decompression surgery.
Translational relevance: Based on a literature search using EMBASE and MEDLINE databases, we believe that this study reports the first in-human results of the safety and effectiveness of da Vinci robot-assisted orbital fat decompression surgery.