ASO Author Reflections: Robotic Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection for Metastatic Melanoma—A Minimally Invasive Approach to a Difficult Problem

Excerpt

With the recent introduction of robotic surgery, there has been a dramatic expansion of this technology throughout the surgical community. Pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) has become one such procedure that has evolved from an open technique (oPLND), and is now routinely being performed through robotic (rPLND) approaches in urologic and gynecologic surgery, with well-established safety. Only recently has rPLND been attempted for the management of metastatic melanoma. Small case series have highlighted the advantages of rPLND, including low complication rates and shorter hospital stays. In 2016, we first described our initial experience with rPLND and demonstrated this approach to be well tolerated, resulted in a similar lymph node yield as an oPLND, and was not cost prohibitive.1 However, whether this would translate into equivalent long-term outcomes when compared with the traditional open approach remained poorly defined. …