A Single Blinded Randomised Controlled Trial Comparing the Ergonomics of Laparoscopic and Versius Robotic Assisted Colorectal Surgery

This study has been designed to assess the ergonomics of Versius® assisted surgery in comparison with laparoscopic surgery in the management of major colorectal resection. The study will randomise 60 patients who require removal of either part or all of the colon or rectum and have been deemed suitable for a minimally invasive approach, as management of either benign or malignant colorectal pathology.

Patients will be randomised to receive either laparoscopic or Versius® robotic assisted surgery but will be informed that it will be attempted via a minimally invasive approach that could include either of these two subtypes of minimally invasive surgery. The randomisation will occur on a 2:1 basis, with 2 patients allocated to the robotic arm for every 1 patient allocated to the laparoscopic arm. Laparoscopic surgery is already a well-established technique, and therefore the study team believe more valuable data about the outcomes of robotic surgery will be obtained with this randomisation ratio given that no prior studies have been undertaken using this robotic platform.

All surgeons in the study will be required to have been involved in at least 20 cases performed using the relevant modality, whether for the robotic or laparoscopic cohorts.

Data will be collected at four key timepoints; recruitment, intraoperatively, at discharge and again at 28 days following intervention. Feasibility outcomes will include willingness to be recruited to study (acceptability), willingness for patient to undergo desired randomised operative approach (acceptability/concordance), withdrawal of patients (non-concordance), study retention (retention rates), and the usefulness and limitations of outcome measures.

The study outcomes examined will relate to the patient, the surgeon performing the procedure, and also cost of the procedure. Surgeon specific outcomes will include measurement of physical and mental strain encountered during the procedures as assessed by the REBA and NASA-TLX scales. Patient specific outcomes will include quality of life analysis (EQ-5D-5L and MFSI-SF scores), hospital length of stay duration, post-operative complications, conversion to open surgery and pain scores. Assessment of intraoperative theatre team communication will be measured using the Oxford NOTECHS II scale which is a modification of a scale originally used in aviation, but adapted and widely validated for use in surgical contexts. The cost of equipment used during the procedure, the cost of theatre utilisation, and the total cost of the inpatient admission will also be calculated.