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. 2024 Feb;56(2):389-397.
doi: 10.1007/s11255-023-03807-7. Epub 2023 Sep 29.

Skills transfer from the DaVinci® system to the Hugo™ RAS system

Rikke Groth Olsen  1   2   3 , Vladimir Karas  4 , Flemming Bjerrum  5   6 , Lars Konge  5   7 , Hein Vincent Stroomberg  8   9 , Julia Abildgaard Dagnæs-Hansen  8   7 , Andreas Røder  8   7
Affiliations

Skills transfer from the DaVinci® system to the Hugo™ RAS system

Rikke Groth Olsen et al. Int Urol Nephrol. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: Recently, the robotic surgical system, Hugo™ was approved for clinical use. The transfer of skills is important for understanding the implementation of surgical innovation. We explored the transfer of skills from the DaVinci® to the Hugo™ by studying the learning curve and short-term patient outcomes during radical prostatectomy (RARP).

Methods: We examined the transfer of skills from one surgeon performing RARP from the first case with the Hugo™ system in April 2022. The surgeon had previously performed > 1000 RARPs using DaVinci®. Perioperative and clinical outcomes were collected for procedures on both Hugo™ and DaVinci®. Patient follow-up time was 3 months.

Results: Nineteen Hugo™ cases and 11 DaVinci® cases were recorded. No clinically relevant difference in procedure time was found when transferring to Hugo™. Patients operated using Hugo™ had more contacts postoperatively compared to the DaVinci®, all Clavien-Dindo (CD) grade 1 (53% vs 18%). Three patients from the Hugo™ group were re-admitted within 30 days with catheter malfunction (CD grade 1), infection without a focus (CD grade 2), and ileus due to a hernia in the port hole (CD grade 3b). The 3-month follow-up showed similar results in prostate-specific antigen levels (PSA) and erectile dysfunction between the two robotic systems, but a higher incidence of incontinence was found for the Hugo™.

Conclusion: We observed that the skills of an experienced robotic surgeon are transferable from DaVinci® to Hugo™ when performing RARP. No obvious benefits were found for using Hugo™ compared to DaVinci® for RARP although this needs confirmatory studies.

Keywords: Hugo™ RAS; IDEAL framework; Learning curve; Prostate cancer; Robot-assisted radical prostatectomies; Urology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interests. Rigshospitalet, Denmark and Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) have entered a formal partnership, but we did not receive any specific funding from Medtronic for this study. We did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Correlation between procedure number and total console time for both the Hugo™ and the DaVinci® showing no clinically relevant improvement over time or difference between the systems
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The progression of the total score of mental load and satisfaction of the surgeon over time for the Hugo™ system
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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