Robotic Colectomy

Your colon and rectum are two organs that help your body digest food. They sit next to each other inside your large intestine. Together they help your body get rid of solid waste.

Colectomy is the medical term for surgery to remove all (or part of) your colon, and sometimes your rectum. This procedure is also known as a bowel resection or colon resection. 

Types of colectomy include:

• Total colectomy, which removes your entire colon
• Partial colectomy, which removes only a section of your colon
• Hemicolectomy, which removes the entire right or left side of your colon
• Proctocolectomy, which removes your entire colon and your rectum

Colectomy is an extensive procedure. After your surgeon removes some or all of your colon, he or she must reattach your remaining digestive organs. And some people need extra surgery to create a new passageway for solid waste to exit the body.

Colectomy surgery is used to treat or prevent several medical conditions. These include:

• Bowel obstruction
• Colon cancer
• Crohn’s disease
• Ulcerative colitis
• Chronic or severe diverticulitis
• Genetic conditions that increase your risk of colon cancer, including Lynch syndrome and familial adenomatous polyposis

Scripps offers the full range of colectomy procedures, including the latest minimally invasive techniques that may reduce pain and recovery time. These include: 

Open colectomy

Open colectomy is the traditional technique used to remove the colon. Your surgeon accesses your colon through a long cut (incision) in your abdomen. 

Laparoscopic colectomy

Laparoscopic colectomy is a minimally invasive procedure that uses several tiny incisions (instead of one large incision). Your surgeon guides a thin, flexible tube mounted with a tiny camera, as well as special surgical tools, through these incisions. The camera allows your surgeon to see inside your lower abdomen while detaching, removing and/or repairing your colon.

Robotic colectomy

Robotic colectomy is nearly identical to laparoscopic colectomy. However, during this type of robotic general surgery, your surgeon doesn’t hold surgical instruments in his or her hands. Instead, the instruments are attached to robotic arms, which your surgeon controls from a nearby computer console. 

Not everyone is a candidate for minimally invasive surgery. Your doctor will help you understand which surgical options are best for you.

Generally, all types of minimally invasive surgery require fewer, or smaller, incisions. But robotic colectomy is different from laparoscopic colectomy. It uses robotic technology to increase precision and control, and to greatly magnify the colon, surrounding tissue and blood vessels.

During robotic colectomy, surgical instruments (and a tiny camera) are attached to robotic arms. These arms are controlled by a specially trained surgeon from a nearby computer console. 

As your surgeon moves his or her hand, wrist and fingers, the robotic arms perform the same movements in real time. Not only do the robotic arms mimic delicate movements, they can bend and rotate in ways a human hand cannot. This may make it easier to access hard-to-reach areas inside the body.

The computer console also displays a high-definition, close-up view of the surgical site. Throughout the procedure, your surgeon can see inside your body in three dimensions. This is another key difference – during laparoscopic colectomy, surgeons only have a two-dimensional view of the surgical field.

During the procedure, your surgeon accesses your colon through several small incisions in your lower abdomen. He or she carefully separates your colon from surrounding tissue, then brings it outside of the body through one of your abdominal incisions.

Your surgeon will operate on your colon while it’s outside of the body, then reinsert it through one of your incisions once any necessary repairs have been made.

It’s important to check with your health plan before having any surgical procedure. Many, but not all, insurance companies cover robotic surgery (including robotic colectomy).

Those that do cover robotic surgery often categorize it as “robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery.” In most cases, if your plan covers minimally invasive surgery, it will also cover robot-assisted surgical procedures.

Robotic colectomy may offer several benefits compared to traditional, open surgery. These include: 

• Quicker return of bowel function
• Reduced risk of complications, including surgical site infection
• Less blood loss (reducing the need for a blood transfusion)
• Less pain (reducing the need for pain medication)
• Smaller, less visible scars
• Shorter hospital stay
• Faster recovery

Like all surgery, robotic colectomy also carries risks. These include:

• Damage to nearby organs and tissue, including the bladder and small intestine
• Tears in the stitches that reconnect the remaining parts of your digestive system
• Fecal incontinence
• Surgical site infection 
• Complications from anesthesia
• Equipment failure