Overview
This study assesses the performance of robot-assisted microsurgery. Lymphaticovenous anastomosis (LVA) is the most difficult procedure in microsurgery at this moment. The LVA technique is applied to treat for example breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). Therefore, this LVA procedure is compared using a manual expert and the same expert applying robot-assisted LVA.
Description
Microsurgery facilitates procedures such as transplantation of tissue as well as lymphedema treatment. Currently, the plastic surgeon's hands are the limiting factor in microsurgical performance. Robot-assistence increases the movement in precision and might therefore be of great importance for the advancement of microsurgery in the world.
It is a prospective study in Maastricht University Medical Center assessing 60 patients undergoing either robot-assisted or manual lymphaticovenous anastomosis (LVA) tot treat breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). The primary outcome parameter is LVA technique. Secondary outcome measures include duration of surgery, technical errors during & complications peri-operatively, surgeon's satisfaction with the LVA procedure, teh patients' convenience during surgery, arm volume over time and patient's symptoms development over time.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
- Female gender;
- Treated for primary early stage breast cancer;
- Early stage lymphedema of the arm (stage 1 or 2 on ISL classification);
- ELV > 10%;
- Suffering from unilateral disease.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Male gender;
- Stage 3 lymphedema of the arm;
- Receiving current breast cancer treatment;
- Distant breast cancer metastases;
- Current substance abuse;
- History of marcaine or indocyanine green allergy;
- Non-viable lymphatic system as determined by near infrared imaging;
- Previous LVA (<10 years) in the arm with lymphedema.