Inguinal hernia TAPP repair using Senhance ® robotic platform: first multicenter report from the TRUST registry.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article was to provide feasibility and safety results of robotic transabdominal preperitoneal inguinal hernia repair (Robotic TAPP).

METHODS: We included 271 cases of robotic inguinal hernia TAPP repair using the Senhance® robotic platform from four different centers between March 2017 and March 2020. Key data points were intraoperative and postoperative complication rate, operating time, length of hospital stay, postoperative pain score and time required to get back to a daily routine that were inserted in the TransEnterix European Patient Registry for Robotic assisted Laparoscopic Procedures in Urology, Abdominal Surgery, Thoracic and Gynecologic Surgery (TRUST).

RESULTS: We report 203 cases of unilateral and 68 cases of bilateral inguinal hernia repairs. Mean operative time was 74 ± 35 min (range 32-265 min), postoperative complications occurred in five (1.85%) cases, the intraoperative complication rate was five (1.85%). The average subjective patient-related pain score after the procedure was 3 ± 1.9 (range 1-9), length of hospital stay was 39 ± 28 h (range 4-288 h), and recovery time was 9.65 ± 8 days (range 1-36 days).

CONCLUSION: Robotic inguinal hernia TAPP repair shows inspiring results. It is a safe and doable procedure. However, cost analysis should be performed in future to show the superiority over other techniques.